Sabah has big investment potential – Zafrul

Sabah has big investment potential – Zafrul

28 Jul 2024

The Ministry of Investment, Trade And Industry (MITI) is always working with the Sabah Government and its relevant agencies to address issues facing the state’s investment.

Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz, who visited the SK Nexilis and Kibing Solar factories in Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park on Sunday, said he sees big potential in Sabah, which is evident when the two companies have shown high commitment to invest and expand in the state.

However, he said there are challenges in the industry that need to be urgently addressed such as infrastructure woes, and his ministry has been working with the Sabah Government and relevant agencies at both Federal and State levels to resolve them.

Zafrul said Sabah ports are seen to be quite active, so two main issues are ensuring the industries here are supplied with sufficient and constant electricity, as well as from the aspect of infrastructure.

He said not only parties such as MITI, Ministry of Energy Transition and Water Transformation, Ministry of Human Resources and Home Ministry are involved in resolving these problems, the Sabah Government also plays a vital role.

“Every year, we hold a meeting involving all relevant agencies and ministries, at the Federal and State levels, to discuss the strategies to be taken, but what is important is to address these issues at all times.

“We also have a Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) office here, where operational issues are raised every week.

“Such issues have to be discussed on a weekly basis, not only in monthly meetings, so I think Sabah has done a lot of work to coordinate this. The Federal and Sabah governments also have a joint one-stop centre to look at the matter.

“My ministry will continue to work with the Sabah government to improve infrastructure and logistics so that companies can come and invest in Sabah, at the same time increasing the country’s earnings and investments,” he said after officiating the Umno Penampang annual general meeting at the Sabah International Convention Centre here on Sunday.

Comment on the tendency of foreign investors to put money into the State, he said they would have no issue in finding the required manpower considering Sabah’s talent pool, while in terms of demography, it is close to countries such as Korea and China.

In fact, he said Sabah is closer to the two countries compared to the Peninsular, so if the State can strengthen its infrastructure and logistics, there will be more companies coming in to support the economic overflow from not only China and Korea, but also Japan.

Zafrul stressed that the increase of investments in Malaysia not only needs to be inclusive, but also equitable, resilient and sustainable.

Source: Borneo Post