KOTA KINABALU – A Sabah minister hopes to secure RM30 billion worth of investments from China in a five-day working visit to China this week.
State Industrial Development and Entrepreneurship minister Phoong Jin Zhe will meet businessmen and government officials in Xiamen and Beijing throughout the trip from April 15 to April 20.
The state minister is also scheduled to visit the E-steel enterprise headquarters and Kibing Chinese glass plant.
“The working visit has three main objectives: following-up with investments that are already ongoing in Sabah, exploring the opportunities for them to expand and invest more in Sabah, and meeting government officials from the Commerce Ministry in Beijing.
“It is important for Sabah to establish a closer strategic relationship with provincial governments in China,” he told reporters at his ministry here today.
Phoong said this while revealing his 100-day report card as the minister in charge of industries and entrepreneurs in Sabah.
E-steel is investing RM19 billion to build its steel-making plant, called the Green Steel Project, in Sipitang, while Kibing is also investing RM2 billion in silica mining in Kudat, Sabah.
Phoong will be accompanied by the ministry’s permanent secretary Datuk Thomas Logijin and officials from Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park, Sipitang Oil and Gas Development Corporation, Sabah Energy Commission, and Lahad Datu Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC).
Phoong noted Kibing plans to invest an additional RM3 billion in Sabah as part of their second phase of investments into the state, adding that they would also be looking into investments into clean energy.
“We will also be meeting companies and investors that have already registered their interest in investing in Sabah. This includes major players such as China Energy Engineering Corporation, China Railway Construction Corporation, and others,” said Phoong, adding that the trip is also a follow-up on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s recent visit to China.
He also noted his ministry is now known as the Industrial Development and Entrepreneurship Ministry, previously only being the Industrial Development Ministry.
“The renaming takes a cue from the Federal Entrepreneur Development and Cooperative Ministry, and I was also given the same mandate to look into the affairs of Sabah’s entrepreneurs,” he said.
Talking about his performance for the last 100 days, Phoong outlined a seven-year strategy to strengthen the state’s industrial and entrepreneurship “leapfrogging” strategy.
Under the leapfrogging strategy, the ministry will ensure the success of the two major investors in Sabah, namely solar panel manufacturer Kibing and South Korean copper foil maker SK Nexillis from South Korea.
He said the success of the two foreign firms will allow the creation of high-income jobs in the state.
Phoong also noted that the state cabinet has approved the upgrading of roads at Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park (KKIP), where both companies are currently building their plants, to ease traffic congestion in the area.
“The government is also forming a task force to study and make plans to attract investors to build a rail system in KKIP and Kota Kinabalu,” he said.
He said the Lahad Datu POIC industrial park has also been tipped to be made a free trade zone, and the federal Finance Ministry has agreed in principle to declare the industrial estate a free trade zone on March 16.
Under the same initiative, Phoong said the state government will employ government-to-government and go-to-genuine-investor policies to ensure transparency.
At the same time, he said the ministry and the Sabah Economic Advisory Council have decided to explore economic cooperation with China’s Jilin province.
Phoong said he had also increased the funding for entrepreneur programmes like SME-Up from RM10 million to RM15 million, while he also established the RM1 million Entrepreneurship Aspiration Fund for entrepreneurs
He noted 98% of the Sabah economy comprises small-medium industries, focused mainly on the domestic market, while only 2% export to the peninsula and abroad. – The Vibes, April 12, 2023
