He said that the Kuching Marina building has been identified for the purpose and the state government plans to purchase the building as SRB is currently renting its current premises.

This was said following the courtesy call by the state Transport Minister Dato Sri Lee Kim Shin and officials from his ministry to the federal Transport Minister Anthony Loke on Jan 11 to get some ideas on how to improve Sarawak’s transportation system in general.

“The takeover will be done soon, as discussed with Loke. The valuation has been done for the building and we are still discussing with the federal government on how much we have to pay to the federal government in order for us to takeover the building,” he said when met by reporters after officiating the Dayung Sikora Beauty Pageant at the Association of Research and Development Movement of Singai Sarawak (Redeems) Centre here on Friday.

Henry also revealed that during the courtesy call, the state government was seeking allocations from the federal government to remove sunken shipwrecks in Sarawakian waters to provide safe passage for ships to enter.

Another issue that was discussed with Loke during the meeting was the setting up of a system that enables the state to detect incoming and outgoing ships in its waters.

“Within our waters, we wanted to have a system to detect any ships that enter our waters. The system is already there, we just need to subscribe to it.

“Any ships that enter or exit Sarawak, we can identify when and where they enter,” he added.