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Oceanjet Is Key to Growth and Development of BIMP-EAGA
By Mihar Dias
(C) Copyright April 2022
The seas around the island of Borneo could easily rival the Aegean Sea in the Mediterranean as a major tourist destination.
The island is surrounded by the South China Sea to the north and northwest, the Sulu Sea to the northeast, the Celebes Sea and the Makassar Strait to the east, and the Java Sea and Karimata Strait to the south.
The island is the crown jewel of the region with culturally attractive tourist destinations that dotted the coastlines of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines now known as The Brunei Darussalam–Indonesia–Malaysia–Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BMIP-EAGA).
The only difference between the Aegean Sea and the seas around Borneo is the absence of a fast ferry service that could provide reliable connections to all destinations in the region for the convenience of international and regional tourists to BIMP-EAGA.
On the other hand, the success of tourism in the Agean region is partly due to the availability of fast reliable, convenient and comfortable and quality-driven ferry services which offer travellers quick and easy access to all destinations.
One of the better-known ferry services in the Aegean Sea is Seajets – established in 1989 and currently operating a fleet of 14 high-speed vessels, and 3 conventional Ro-Ro (roll on roll off) ferries sailing to 17 islands and offering 140 connections throughout the region.
It services routes from the ports of Piraeus and Rafina to several Cycladic islands and sails on routes between Crete (Heraklion – Rethymno) and Central Cyclades, including Santorini, Ios, Naxos, Paros and Mykonos as well as Northern Greece (Thessaloniki, Sporades), Cyclades and Crete.
Imagine an Oceanjet with similar capabilities using clean LNG which is abundant in the BIMP-EAGA region to link all destinations around the island from Kuching to Bandar Seri Begawan to Kota Kinabalu and connect them to the Southern Philippines cities of Port Princes, Zamboanga, Cotabato, Davos and as far south as the new capital of Indonesia, Balikpapan and Makasar.
Oceanjet or similar ferry service is the way forward to bring connectivity to the region that badly needs a reliable, fast and affordable transportation network to link BIMP-EAGA.
Besides promoting tourism, it will be able to spur much needed economic activity and related growth in this remote yet potentially rich but untapped region.
An Oceanjet RoRo ferry service for instance could transport vehicles with quality fresh rural produce to major cities on the same day in a reliable manner at an affordable price for all consumers. Through this means the urban market becomes more accessible to farmers in rural and remote areas surrounded by the three seas.
We are told that a group of people are now seriously pondering these possibilities given that Brunei, Sarawak and Sabah have an abundant supply of natural gas that could serve as ready fuel for Oceanjet ferries.
A feasibility study is in the offing to be presented to selected potential investors and business partners.
Promoters of the project may be reached via the following email; mihardias@gmail.com
Mihar Dias is a content writer under Headliner by Newswav, a programme where content creators get to tell their unique stories through articles and at the same time monetize their content within the Newswav app.
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