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Petronas, Yayasan <b>Sabah</b> reach out to Imbak Canyon community <b>...</b> Berita Sabah - News 2 Sabah

Petronas, Yayasan <b>Sabah</b> reach out to Imbak Canyon community <b>...</b>

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 03:32 PM PST

TONGOD: Petronas and Yayasan Sabah reached out to the communities around Imbak Canyon Conservation Area (ICCA) in Tongod in the heart of Sabah,

in a briefing session, aimed at creating awareness on the effort to conserve the state's pristine heritage.

Some 140 residents from 10 villages in Mukim Pinangah attended the session on February 5.

The villages were Kampung Alitang, Kampung Saguon, Kampung Diwara, Kampung

Mankawagu, Kampung Pinangah, Kampung Melikop, Kampung Masaum, Kampung Langga,

Kampung Tudungin and Kampung Kampung Inarad are located west of ICCA.

In her speech at the event, general manager of Petronas Sabah and Labuan Regional Office, Julita Ontol, spoke of the collaboration to conserve Imbak Canyon under the Yayasan Sabah-Petronas Imbak Canyon Conservation Partnership.

"Despite all these efforts, the support of the communities around the ICCA is equally important in the conservation of Imbak Canyon," she said.

Among the activities during the one-day event was a presentation each by the ICCA, Sabah Wildlife Department, Sabah Forestry Department and Universiti Malaysia Sabah as well as a dialogue with the local community.

ICCA acting manager Robinson Rozali Rustin, in his presentation, said the local communities would benefit from Imbak Canyon's conservation efforts.

"To cater to the anticipated increase in the number of tourists in the future, there will be demand for jobs such as research assistants, and services such as guides and porters, as well as transportation, which will benefit the surrounding community," he said.

Also present were Tongod district officer Robert Stidi and Yayasan Sabah's senior manager of Conservation and Environmental Management Division, Rita Stuel Galid.

The programme also aimed at collecting information on the customs, culture and language as well as the socio-economic activities of Mukim Pinangah which would later be used to update the information at the Petronas-funded Ulu Kinabatangan Information Centre in Kampung Imbak.

The centre was opened last year along with the Ulu Kinabatangan Jetty, also funded by the national oil company.

In 2012, a similar reach out programme was held in Mukim Karamuak, one of four clusters of villages around the ICCA. The three others are Mukim Tongod, Mukim Kuamut and Mukim Pinangah.

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<b>Sabah</b> companies unaware of RM1 bln fund – MIDA – BorneoPost <b>...</b>

Posted: 18 Feb 2014 02:28 PM PST

by Chok Sim Yee. Posted on February 19, 2014, Wednesday

KOTA KINABALU: No Sabah companies have applied for the RM1 billion Domestic Investment Strategic Fund (DISF) launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in July 2012.

Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) Services Department executive director Dato' Mathialakan Chelliah said a total of RM391.3 million was approved under DISF to 71 local companies in Malaysia as of December last year.

"There is no awareness among companies in Sabah that this facility is available," he said in a press conference during a seminar on services sector themed 'Government Initiatives to Propel the Services Sector' here yesterday.

The seminar, organized by MIDA in collaboration with the Ministry of Industrial Development Sabah, was graced by Deputy Chief Minister cum Industrial Development Minister Datuk Raymond Tan Shu Kiah.

Mathialakan said the RM1 billion DISF under the 10th Malaysian Plan was intended to accelerate the participation of Malaysian-owned companies in the global supply chain of high value-added, high technology, knowledge intensive and innovation based industries.

"The fund would be granted on a negotiable basis based on the request of the companies and the merits of each case with the objective to enhance technological capabilities of domestic investors."

Companies with Malaysian equity ownership of at least 60 per cent are eligible for DISF.

The priority sectors for DISF are aerospace, machinery and equipment, pharmaceuticals, advanced electronics, medical devices, renewable energy and services including design, research and development, testing, quality and standard certification, technical and skills training, engineering services and logistics service providers. Other industries will be considered on a case by case basis.

Mathialakan said the DISF was a matching grant, for example, a company who invested RM100,000 to upgrade or modernize its facilities would be reimbursed 50 per cent of its expenditure by the government upon showing proof of the investment.

On the other hand, Mathialakan said the government gave 10 years of tax free period as special incentive for foreign companies that turn waste to value, like producing biomass pellets as our country has yet to have the capacity to do so.

Earlier in his speech, Mathialakan said the services sector was targeted to contribute 61 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) by 2015 under 10th Malaysia Plan.

"Last year, the services sector contributed 54.6 per cent of the country's GDP and recorded a growth rate of 6.4 per cent."

For the period January to September last year, a total of 22 projects were approved in Sabah with investments of RM3.6 billion and the projects are expected to create 1,665 employment opportunities in the state, Mathialakan said.

"The manufacturing sector is still a major contributor with RM3.2 billion investments in industries like petroleum products, food manufacturing, chemical products and non-metallic mineral products.

"The services sector contributed a total RM600 million worth of investment under the hotel and energy generation industries."

On the national level, Mathialakan said Malaysia had successfully attracted a significant level of investments in the first nine months of 2013.

From January to September 2013, approved investments in the country reached RM136.9 billion, an increase of 26 per cent from the corresponding period in 2012.

The services sector continued its lead with approved investments amounting to RM83.4 billion or 60.9 per cent, followed by the manufacturing sector at RM35.1 billion (25.6 per cent) and primary sector at RM18.4 billion or 13.5 per cent.

He noted that the services sector continued to maintain its strong performance during the first nine months last year.

"A total of 3,316 services projects were approved, creating 68,436 employment opportunities; the largest potential employer of all three sectors being manufacturing, services and primary sectors."

Domestic investments outshone with investments totaling RM71 billion or 85.1 per cent of approved investments, he said, while foreign investments in the services sector surged from RM7.2 billion in the first nine months of 2012 to RM12.5 billion in the same period in 2013.

Mathialakan added that approved investments in the services sector were most significant in the real estate segment, with investments valued at RM37.2 billion, followed by global operations hubs at RM8.8 billion, transport RM6.9 billion, utilities RM6.2 billion and hotel and tourism RM6 billion.

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<b>Sabah</b> eyeing to beat Selangor in attracting investment - The Borneo <b>...</b>

Posted: 17 Feb 2014 09:14 AM PST

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is looking forward to beat Selangor in bringing investment to the country, Industrial Development Minister Datuk Raymond Tan Shu Kiah said.

He said at his ministry's Chinese New Year dinner on Saturday tha Sabah's consistent investment is an indication that the state is a potential and main destination for investors to put their money, to make money in the future.

"In 2012, Sabah ranked third in projects approved by the Malaysia Investment Development Authority (Mida), with a total domestic and foreign capital investment value of RM5,034 million, just behind Johor RM5,535 million and Selangor RM11,734 million. However, we beat Penang (RM2,471.5 million).

"In 2013, Sabah is at RM3,001.80 million while Penang is at RM2,652.40 million. We beat Penang for the past two years and I am looking forward to beat Selangor, since leaders from Penang and Selangor keeping telling the people that Sabah is a poor state," he said.

Tan who was the host for the event held at Le Meridien Hotel, also stressed that with the investment potential in Sabah, the federal government should be looking ahead and putting more money in Sabah to maximize the potential.

Quoting a recent report on national newspapers that Malaysia had been ranked one of the cheapest places in the world to purchase a Big Mac, Tan, who is also Deputy Chief Minister, said it was a very simple reason why investors should be paying more attention to investing in Malaysia.

"It was said that the Big Mac sold in Malaysia is half the price of the same burger sold in the US. If we go to San Francisco and order a Big Mac, the taste and size will be the same like what we have here in Kota Kinabalu. But the price is the cheapest here.

"We cannot simply change the recipe and ingredients because Big Mac has its own standard. We cannot change the salad inside into kangkung because Big Mac wants the same quality like what they have worldwide. This simply says investors are having huge opportunity to make money in Malaysia.

"However, since I am the minister in-charge of bringing investors to the state, I can assure that our investors can make money if we work together. At the same time, let me make money for the state as well," he added.

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