Lok Kawi Resort City development to drive SMJ plan initiative – Hajiji
22 Mar 2021
Lok Kawi Resort City development is expected to drive the tourism sector which is one of the three pillars highlighted in the Sabah Maju Jaya (SMJ) development plan, Chief Minister Datuk Hajiji Noor said.
SMJ 2021-2025 plan consists of three main pillars namely agriculture, industrialisation and tourism as the focus of economic growth, human resource and people’s wellbeing as well as infrastructure network and green sustainability that will move in tandem with the Shared Prosperity Vision 2030.
Hajiji said the Lok Kawi Resort City, consisting of theme parks, resort hotels, shopping complexes, commercial and office blocks as well as residentials, would be developed on 166.3 hectares in Lok Kawi, Putatan with a gross development value (GDV) of RM7 billion.
He said the project could boost the conducive environment for the tourism sector especially in mitigating the number of accommodation rooms and resorts in Sabah.
“The state government is optimistic that Sabah’s tourism sector will be able to grow rapidly once the COVID-19 pandemic is addressed. This project is expected to provide 5,000 job opportunities that will increase when fully operational,” he said at the Lok Kawi Resort City Development launching ceremony here today.
The event was officiated by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and was attended by all three deputy chief ministers Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin, Datuk Dr Joachim Gunsalam and Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan as well as Senior Minister and International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali.
At the event, Hajiji also accompanied Muhyiddin to witness the signing of two foreign and domestic investment initiative memoranda of understanding (MoUs) between Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park Sdn Bhd (KKIP) and SK Nexilis Co Ltd as well as the Sabah state government and Linaco Group of Companies.
Through the MoU between KKIP and SK Nexilis, Hajiji said the South Korea-based copper foil manufacturer for vehicles has agreed to invest abroad and chose Sabah as an investment destination.
He said the investment involved a total of RM2.3 billion and is expected to create 500 jobs for the initial phase while the construction of the plant that is targeted to start operations in 2023 is expected to further increase port utilisation by 10,000 twenty-foot equivalents (TEUs) a year.
Hajiji said the MoU between Sabah state government and Linaco would involve a large-scale cultivation and processing of coconuts namely high-yield hybrid coconut palms followed by the development of integrated coconut processing plants to optimise the production of coconut-based products.
“As a leading company supplying coconut-based products to over 40 countries, Linaco will purchase all harvested coconuts through integrated coconut cultivation. A centre of excellence will also be developed to monitor the implementation of the project’s best practices.
“The coconut processing plant will be operational as soon as possible with an initial investment estimated at RM200 million,” he said.
He added that the involvement of the private sector and domestic and foreign investors would be one of the main strategies for implementing SMJ.
Source: Bernama
