By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, Dec 10: The Sarawak government has identified a new site measuring over 1,000 acres in Samarahan for a proposed new high-tech park to cater to investor demand.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan said the high-tech park will be an expansion of Sama Jaya Free Industrial Zone as the latter is nearly at full capacity.
“I am pleased to tell you that this is one of the approved projects under the 12th Malaysia Plan, so we are going to expand this maybe for another 1,000 acres,” he said.
He revealed this at a press conference after his work visit to Taiyo Yuden (Sarawak) Sdn Bhd’s new investment project at Sama Jaya Free Industrial Zone here today.
When asked when construction will commence, Awang Tengah said the authorities will have to undertake a preliminary process first.
“First, we have to conduct a study in which if we need to acquire the land, then we have to give notice for land acquisition. Only then can we start the whole project,” he explained.
At the same time, Awang Tengah who is also the Minister for International Trade and Industry, Industrial Terminal and Entrepreneur Development (Mintred) and Second Minister for Urban Development and Natural Resources (MUDENR), also congratulated four companies on their new expansion plans totalling RM6.31 billion in Sama Jaya.
These companies are Taiyo Yuden Sarawak, LONGi, HGST (Western Digital) and IMM Technology.
“Upon the completion of this expansion project by these four companies, it will provide 5,550 additional job opportunities, mainly for a skilled workforce.
“At the moment, Sama Jaya Industrial Park is the home for multi-national corporations (MNCs) and it is providing employment to more than 13,700 people, where 98 per cent of the workforce are Sarawakians and almost 10 per cent of them are engineers,” he added.
He also disclosed that Sarawak was able to attract RM15.7 billion in investments in 2020, and remained on track to rank among the top four investment destinations in Malaysia for the manufacturing sector.
Also present were Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUN) Speaker Datuk Amar Mohamad Asfia Awang Nassar, Assistant Minister for Entrepreneur and Small and Medium Enterprise Development Datuk Mohamad Naroden Majais, Taiyo Yuden Sarawak managing director and chief executive officer Yoshio Akimoto, Mintred acting permanent secretary Dzulkornain Masron and Mintred special function officer Datu Liaw Soon Eng. — DayakDaily
