Bintulu Member of Parliament, Dato' Seri Tiong King Sing, felt that the participation of the chief secretary of the Ministry of Finance, the deputy chief of Ministry of Transport and the chief executive officer of BPSB was insufficient to maintain transparency in their business and smooth operation of the port.

"It is ridiculous of having only three directors whereas there should be a larger (number) of directors because BPSB have the money and with the board of directors enlarged, there will be more transparency," he told reporters here.

While adding that other ports in Malaysia have at least 10 members in their board of directors, he wonder a big company like BPSB could only have three directors to run the business.

He believed that the inclusion of more independent directors that could also comprised other businessmen would enable the port company to be run in a transparent manner and could even save the operational cost.

In jest, He said BPSB could financially afford to accommodate more directors in the board  following a recent remark by the President and chief executive officer of Petronas, Tan Sri Mohd Hassan Merican that charges imposed by Bintulu Port is the highest in the world.

"Where have all the money gone from the charges collected? I think it is the time now for the management of the port to be improved," he added.

On another note, he also urged the Finance Ministry to delay any award of tender that had been approved by BPSB and to investigate the procedure of awarding practised by the management that had been claimed to have been improper and caused dissatisfaction among some of the bidders.

"I would like the Ministry of Finance, being the shareholder of Bintulu Port Sdn Bhd to look into all the tenders that had been awarded," he added while assuring that he would be bringing up the matter in the next parliamentary sitting.