SARAWAK
is keen to learn from Sabah’s experience in developing palm oil
downstream industries and palm oil industrial clusters (POIC).
Its Land Development Minister Dr James Masing said the oil palm
plantation sector was expanding rapidly in Sarawak and the state aimed
to ensure that it was moving in the right direction in downstream
value-add.
“We have heard a lot about your POIC development and
we believe we can learn much from your experiences,” Masing said during
a visit to the POIC project in Lahad Datu.
On hand to brief the visitors was POIC Sabah Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Dr Pang Teck Wai.
Masing’s 16-member delegation included senior officials from the
Ministry of Rural Development, State Planning Unit, Bintulu Development
Authority, Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corp, Sarawak Oil Palm
Plantation Owners Association and Malaysia Palm Oil Board Sarawak.
He said that Sarawak currently has about 700,000ha of oil palm, compared with 1.4 million hectares in Sabah.
The state has targeted to cultivate about two million hectares of oil palm over the next five years.
Sarawak is also developing land in Bintulu, known globally as a port
for liquefied natural gas, to attract investors in palm oil downstream
industries.
Dr Pang said the oil palm industry in Sabah has
the potential to generate economic value of RM100 billion, four times
that of the state’s gross domestic product currently.
He shared
with visitors his views on the critical factors for a successful
industrial cluster and highlighted the importance of infrastructure and
the need for the government to underwrite the funding.
Views were exchanged on issues of plantation labour and mechanisation.
The plantation sector faces a major labour shortage from an exodus of Indonesian workers back to their home country.
Mechanisation may help address the labour woes in addition to raising efficiency and productivity.
Source : Business Times
