KUALA LUMPUR, March 27 — Some 35 per cent of the 570,000 square kilometres of the country’s waters have been hydrographically re-measured so far, said Deputy Defence Minister Adly Zahari.
He said the measuring process was done using the multibeam echosounder method, in line with the standards set by the International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO).
“This is to enable us to obtain 100 per cent coverage of the depth of the country’s waters. A hydrographic survey platform rental was done under a special programme in 2018 as an interim measure to speed up the hydrographic work.
“The first phase of this multi-phase programme was from 2018 to 2021, and the second phase is from 2022 to 2025. Based on the achievements of the first phase, this contract was extended in 2022 with the rental of two survey platforms.”
He said this when winding up the debate on the Supply Bill 2023 for the ministry at the committee level in the Dewan Rakat today.
Elaborating, Adly said the Defence Ministry, together with the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN), were also trying to get an additional budget for the programme to meet the measurement requirements for shallow water areas below 50 metres deep.
The hydrographic project involved a special allocation of RM15 million given to RMN to finance the rental service contract of the hydrographic surveying platforms operated by the National Hydrographic Centre since 2018.
Commenting on the welfare of Armed Forces veterans, Adly said the ministry was focusing on creating job opportunities for the group within the ministry, either through government-linked companies or private companies.
