By Adrian Lim
KUCHING, Feb 27: Sarawak remains one of the preferred choices of investment for local and foreign investors, despite political uncertainties in federal government.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan observed that the political uncertainties in Peninsular Malaysia had not affected the confidence of investors to invest in Sarawak.
“Despite the situation of the federal government, Sarawak remains one of the preferred choices of investment for domestic and foreign investors.
“The state government has implemented various people-centric projects.
“Besides, the state government is able to generate more revenue to strengthen the financial performance of the state,” Awang Tengah who is Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation’s (STIDC) board of management chairman told STIDC’s staff during a special gathering at STIDC’s theatrette here.
On another note, Awang Tengah who is Minister of International Trade and Industry, Industrial Terminal and Entrepreneur Development urged timber industry players to make adjustments in their operations in order to stay relevant in the current business environment.
He encouraged timber industry players to upgrade themselves by utilising automation and research and development (R&D) to produce value-added products.
On another note, Awang Tengah pointed out that the growth of the timber industry was private sector driven.
Hence, he believed that for the timber industry to move forward, there must be cooperation between various parties including private investors.
Awang Tengah, who is Second Minister of Urban Development and Resources, hopes that STIDC which is tasked to spearhead the development of the timber industry will continue to have engagement with all stakeholders to develop the timber industry as well as ensure that the the industry is sustainable.
Earlier on, STIDC’s general manager Hashim Bojet pointed out that the exports of primary industries of timber products had registered a drop of 20 per cent.
He noted the operating environment of the timber industry remained challenging adding that there were declines in the production of raw materials for the timber industry and higher operating costs.
He observed that Indonesia had increased its market shares of plywood and had in the past year overtaken Sarawak as one of the largest suppliers of plywood to Japan.
Thus, he shared the STIDC was actively engaging with various stakeholders to identify solutions and to enhance the development of the timber industry.
Looking ahead, Hashim believed growth for the timber industry would be derived from higher demand for biomass products, or wood pellets in Japan and South Korea, engineered wood for the construction and logistics sectors as well as furniture for office and residential apartments in the global market.
Apart from that, Hashim outlined that STIDC had proposed 29 projects to be implemented under the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) from 2021 to 2025 with an estimated budget of RM1.7 billion.
He explained that the allocation was for STIDC to carry out its responsibilities.
Those include regulating and facilitating the development of the timber industry in Sarawak, strengthening R&D initiative with value added products and developing infrastructure for the shipping industry, food processing industry and infrastructure development for its administrative centre located at Tanjung Manis.—DayakDaily
