Hajiji (right) interacting with some of the tahfiz students during the breaking of fast with the orphans and tahfiz students in Tuaran on Monday.
TUARAN: Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor has shed light on the figure of approved investments in Sabah following some comments that it was contradictory to what was announced by the Federal Government at the Dewan Rakyat.
He said while the state government has approved investments totalling RM11.5bil involving 89 projects since the Covid-19 pandemic until last year, a mega project signed late last year has yet to be added into the equation.
“The figure did not include the Integrated Green Steel project worth RM19.6bil at the Sipitang Oil and Gas Industrial Park (Sogip) signed in November 2022.
“With this project and other investments in the process of implementation, Sabah will be receiving a total of RM33.4bil (investments)," he said in a statement on Monday (April 3) after chairing the Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority (Sedia) meeting in Tuaran.
Earlier, Parti Warisan supreme council member Justin Wong said Hajiji’s previous statement of RM33bil investments in 2022 in Sabah was misleading as it was different from the RM11.5bil figure given by International Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz during the Dewan Rakyat meeting on March 28.
Hajiji, who is also Sedia chairman, said that of the RM11.5bil, RM9.2bil were Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) and the remaining RM2.3bil were domestic investments.
“Out of this, 72.9% of the investments (RM8.4bil) are in the manufacturing sector, while RM1.6bil are in primary sectors comprising agriculture, mining, commodity and plantation and the remaining RM1.5bil are investments in the services sector.
“These investments were the cumulative efforts of the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida), state Industrial Development and Entrepreneurship Ministry, Sedia and other related agencies,” he added.
Hajiji also said now that Sedia was directly under the purview of the Economy Ministry, he wants every application and implementation of projects under the Sabah Development Corridor (SDC) to be better coordinated, with set timelines and all procedures to be complied with.
After the meeting, Hajiji also broke fast with Sedia board members as well as 100 orphans and tahfiz students from four homes and tahfiz centres in Tuaran, where he also presented contributions to them.
