Joint venture effort set to make Sandakan preferred location for downstream activities

KOTA KINABALU: Sawit Kinabalu Sdn Bhd, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Rikaworth Sdn Bhd, has joint-ventured with Usaha Dimega Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Kretam Holdings Bhd, to invest in bulking installations in Sawit PalmOil Industrial Cluster (Poic) in Sandakan.

Sandakan is strategically located in close proximity to major consuming markets and 40% of Sabah’s oil comes from the Sandakan area.

Poic will transform Sandakan to become a preferred location for palm oil downstream activities.

Sawit Kinabalu, a premier investment arm of the Sabah government, commenced development of Sawit Poic in 2007 through its wholly-owned subsidiary Sandakan Bulkers Sdn Bhd.

A flagship project under the Sabah Development Corridor, Sawit Poic is being developed with the primary objective of attracting investment in downstream activities in the palm oil sector.

Sawit Poic is strategically located and has state-of-the-art infrastructure such as dual carriageways, power, water and fibre optic cable lines for high-speed Internet connectivity.

In its development masterplan, Sandakan Bulkers has a dedicated oil jetty and conveyor for palm kernel and palm kernel cake import and export facilities. 

The construction of the jetty is at the planning stage and it is expected to be ready by 2018.

The initial construction of 21,800MT tank facilities in Sawit Poic will enable Sandakan Bulkers to provide bulking facilities for liquidpalm products.

With the provision of first-class infrastructure and services, Sawit Kinabalu is confident that Sawit Poic can attract local and international investors and become another palm oil hub for the region in future.