By Peter Sibon
KUCHING, May 6: The Sarawak government will expand its mining sector as part of its post-Covid-19 economic exit plan to tackle the economic standstill brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The Sarawak government will emphasise on the mining sector as the we have abundant minerals and natural resources such as oil, gas, coal, silica sands, limestone and others as new sources of revenue.
“Our mining sector, particularly the oil and gas sector will utilise data centres and innovation to enhance its resources planning and deployment in place of conventional methods.
“This will increase productivity and efficiency, and global good practices can be adopted by other mining sectors. The mining sector will be a new source of our revenue,” said Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg at a press conference to unveil the “Post-Covid-19 Exit Economic Strategy Up to 2030 Plan” today.
Apart from the mining sector, he said the government will also encourage the use of renewable energy sources such as hydropower, solar, biomass, hydrogen and biogas to generate electricity to achieve a balanced energy mix and reduce carbon emissions.
Meanwhile, describing big data as the ‘new oil’, Abang Johari said the Sarawak government will also increase the capacity of data centres and innovation to cater for ever-increasing demand across all economic sectors domestically as well as global needs.
“The enhanced capacity will be further supported by the ever-growing need of digital services such as digital ID, digital wallet, big data, blockchain, fintech, virtual reality, augmented reality and artificial intelligence.
“Our data centres and innovation will be environmentally sustainable as they consume renewable energy. Big data will be the new oil of our economy,” said Abang Johari. — DayakDaily
