Sabah brings in RM4.36bil investments in difficult time

 By Olivia Miwil - September 23, 2021 @ 4:42pm

Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Dr Joachim Gunsalam who is also state Industrial Development at the 16th Sabah Assembly Sitting. - Pic courtesy of Sabah Information Department.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah has brought in RM4.36 billion in investments from seven companies as of June this year.

State Industrial Development Minister Datuk Dr Joachim Gunasalam said these companies were approved by the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA).

"Out of this number, RM4.3 billion is foreign investment and RM62.2 million comprises of domestic investment. These projects have also created 518 jobs.

"With this amount of investments, it places Sabah at third place after Kedah and Selangor," he said during his winding speech at the 16th State Assembly Sitting here.

He added that in 2020, out of 15 manufacturing companies approved by MIDA, only one was a foreign investor company with an investment capital value of RM11.48 million.

Sabah's Gross Domestic Growth in 2020 has also contracted by 9.5 per cent to RM75.6 billion as compared to 0.7 per cent to RM85.6 billion in the previous year due to Covid-19.

Dr Joachim, who is also Deputy Chief Minister, said such data showed that foreign investors were still interested in Sabah.

He said one of the seven companies was fully owned by a South Korean company and another one was a company with Singaporean partnership.

"Despite the current difficult situation, the investor from South Korea, SK Nexilis with an investment value of RM4.2 billion which will produce Copper Foil products for the use of electric -powered car batteries, has already started construction of their plant in early September 2021.

"This factory, which is built on 40.5 hectares of land, is expected to start operations in September 2023.

"An estimated 3,000 jobs was created from various categories during the construction phase and over 400 jobs when the plant is operational."

Dr Joachim said the Ministry would work closely with relevant agencies, offer attractive rates on taxes and utility tariff, form a One Stop Investment Agency, and set up a trade and tourism office in Singapore among others to attract more foreign investment.