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SANDAKAN – Warisan’s Elopura assemblyman Calvin Chong said the people of Sandakan want to see the Sabah government put more effort into promoting the Sandakan Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC) to investors.
He said currently, the people are not seeing efforts by the state government, leading them to believe that the administration has abandoned the city, while only focusing on the POIC in Lahad Datu.
“This issue is one that is close to my heart as I have been fighting for this for many years. Why is Sandakan POIC so quiet?
“It has land and facilities, and it is located in such a strategic location, and all these are going to waste without investors coming in,” he told The Vibes.
“It is a heartache to see this because Sandakan desperately needs downstream factories for our palm oil products. The facilities and land are there, but why are there only two factories here?”
Chong urged the government to either act more aggressively in promoting Sandakan POIC to investors, or provide an explanation as to why Sandakan POIC has not had new investors for years, leaving its facilities and potential to waste.
Earlier this month, Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Mohd Noor said POIC Lahad Datu is one of the best ports in the region and is set to bring development to the local area
He said the port has the potential to become among the main transhipment hubs in the region.
The POIC in Sandakan has a land size of 2,810 acres and is equipped with facilities such as a jetty, bulking facility, pipelines, and pipe racks, among others.
It was learned that there are currently only two companies operating in Sandakan POIC consisting of state investment arm Sawit Kinabalu, and Green Biofuels Sdn Bhd (refinery).
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Sandakan POIC is an integrated industrial park initiated by the government in 2007 with the aim of attracting investment in palm oil downstream manufacturing, as a shift from raw commodity exports.
The Sandakan facility also had potential to reduce the migration of local talent to places such as Kota Kinabalu and West Malaysia, if it brought in large-scale investments due to the availability of palm oil plantations in the area.
However, the public has complained that investors would prefer to invest elsewhere due to the alleged lack of incentives provided by the Sabah government.
Politicians from both the government and opposition have repeatedly questioned the developments of the Sandakan POIC during state assembly sittings.
In July this year, Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Joachim Gunsalam told the Sabah Legislative Assembly that other than the palm oil industry, state investment arm Sawit Kinabalu Sdn Bhd is also planning to invite food and non-food manufacturing industry players to invest in Sandakan POIC.
He said Sandakan POIC is equipped with a sufficient power supply of 11 kVA from the nearest substation and has 12 million litres of water tank capacity.
There was also a proposed 300MW power plant project in Sandakan POIC, but it was cancelled by the Pakatan Harapan government following the general election in 2018.
In December 2018, the then Sabah chief minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal announced a plan to transform Sandakan POIC into a furniture centre in Sabah, but the plan did not materialise. – The Vibes, September 30, 2022
