IT
HAS been a hectic 10 days in Sabah, starting with a whirlwind visit of Prime
Minister Najib Razak who was followed by his deputy Muhyddin Yassin and former
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed. Throughout this short period, a consensus is
reached: Rich Sabah is poised to be Malaysia’s richest. And the credit goes to
Chief Minister Musa Aman.
Najib
has made it clear that he will continue to work with Musa to develop Sabah.
Muhyddin says that investors are attracted to Sabah because of Musa’s business
friendly policies. And during a public lecture at the Universiti Malaysia Sabah
on May 1, Mahathir told his audience that Sabah will soon become Malaysia’s
richest as it develops its oil and gas industries.
Sabahans
showed their wealth at the week-long Malaysia’s unit trust fair which was held
in Kota Kinabalu for the first time from April 20 to 28. It was launched 13
years ago by Permodalan Nasional Berhad, the country’s investment company.
Sabahans in fact need little education on investment. About 1.08m of them,
roughly a third of the state’s population, have invested 12 billion ringgit ($4
billion) in PNB’s trust funds. This makes them the fifth largest group of
investors in the country.
Najib
was moved to tell PNB to invest in Sabah’s tourism, agro- and marine-industries
which his government has earmarked under his massive 1.4-trillion ringgit
economic transformation programme to turn Malaysia into a developed country by
2020.
And
by the time Muhyddin came to close the fair, a record of almost 270,000 people
have visited it – all eager to find out what they can do with their money
sitting in the bank.
Foreign
investors are flocking to Sabah as they have confidence in Musa’s
administration, according to Muhyddin. In fact Sabah had the third largest
foreign direct investments last year at 13.7 billion ringgit.
Recently,
Sabah scored a coup with a 2-billion ringgit joint-venture with America’s
Darden Restaurants to build the world’s biggest lobster farm off Semporna on
the southeastern Sabah coast. Insight Sabah can confirm that the project was
headed for Singapore if not for Musa Aman. Bill Herzig, Darden's senior
vice-president, says his company is attracted by the Sabah government policy
that encourages economic growth. Sabah’s marine environment is also well suited
to lobster farming.
Mahathir
notes that Sabah is well poised for a booming oil and gas industry with
spin-offs from the Sabah Oil and Gas Terminal in Kimanis and the 4.7-billion
ringgit Sabah ammonia and urea project (samur) in Sipitang which is turning
into an oil and gas industrial park. The first 45-billion ringgit worth of
projects is taking off. They include a 500-km (313-mile) undersea pipeline from
Kimanis to Bintulu that costs 5.5 billion ringgit, a 1-billion ringgit
300-megawatt gas-fired power plant and a 1-billion regasification terminal in
Lahad Datu on the east coast. (Insight Sabah)
Kehebatan Musa Aman memimpin Sabah memang tidak dapat disangkal. Sabah mula menunjukkan perubahan positif dan diharap ianya akan berterusan.
ReplyDeletePeluang pekerjaan untuk projek SAMUR sebaik-baiknya diutamakan kepada orang Sabah.
ReplyDeletepembukaan pusat latihan dan kemahiran serta pengwujudan program kejuruteraan minyak dan gas di UMS pasti akan memberikan persediaan kepada rakyat Sabah terutama golongan belia untuk terlibat dalam projek ini.
Deletebyk pembangunan di Sabah sepanjang pentadbiran Musa, projek seperti Samur dan SOGT akan melonjakkan lagi pembangunan Sabah.
ReplyDeleteYang pasti Datuk Musa Aman telah pun memberikan yang terbaik kepada penduduk Sabah. Maka kita perlulah memberikan sokongan kepada beliau untuk meneruskan usaha tersebut.
ReplyDeleteCredit to Datuk Musa Aman under his leadership Sabah more develop.
ReplyDeletethe state government under the leadership of Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman, had introduced communal titles to overcome the problem.
ReplyDeletesedangkan Najib dan Muhyiddin juga memuji2 kehebatan Musa dalam mentadbir negeri ini..
ReplyDeleteNo doubt about it that Musa is the best man to lead sabah.
ReplyDeleteUnder Musa leadership, Sabah has become more develop.
DeleteSabah also in financial terms is "in positive teritory" with fianncial reserves of RM2 billion, the highest figure since Musa became chief minister six years ago. He also the State's Financial Minister.
ReplyDeleteMultiple trade surplus of more than two to RM18.1 billion last year, unemployment fell to 4.9 percent from 5.5 percent in 2007 even though inflation rose slightly to 6 per cent due to the high price of oil.
ReplyDeleteHowever, inflation declined to 4.2 percent this year because the cost of fuel, clothing, transportation and communications cost has decreased as well.
ReplyDeleteTourism is the third largest income in Sabah and the results obtained this year will most likely be permanent.
ReplyDeleteIt is on track to achieve the target of 2.3 million tourists this year, especially after the terminal Kota Kinabalu International Airport can receive 3,200 passengers an hour, ready to operate. Some 1.6 million tourists came to the end of September.
ReplyDeleteConfidence in the state economy is evident in private investment, which saw 4.2 percent growth in bank loans to RM27.6 billion in the first nine months of this year, even though banks very wary of the global economic slowdown. For most of their investment in the construction sector, real estate, finance and insurance and agro-business involves.
ReplyDeleteHowever, finding funds to spend proves to be a challenge to the Sabah State government due to the limited sources of income. Largest source is sales tax of RM910 million, mostly from crude oil sales tax estimated to be worth RM820 million a year. The rest comes from gambling taxes (RM90 million) and land (RM50 million).
ReplyDeleteRoyalty came mostly from oil and timber, will give the state a total of RM725 million next year, declined by a quarter because Sabah is estimated to receive about 13 percent from 5 percent royalty oil at the rate of RM647 million as Petronas, the national oil company, expects oil prices more low. This year, it is estimated to earn RM742 million.
ReplyDelete