KOTA KINABALU: The State Government wants all hurdles hampering investments to be removed to facilitate investments into Sabah.
“Red tapes faced by well-meaning investors will only hurt our efforts to draw investors to Sabah hence we must remove them to facilitate investments,” Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Haji Noor said this when chairing the first board meeting of Invest Sabah Bhd (ISB) here this morning.
Invest Sabah Bhd was established in December of last year under the purview of the Ministry of Industrial Development to promote both local and foreign investments. It will act as a one-stop agency for investments into the state providing investors with information on investment requirements including licensing approvals and building networking platforms among others.
Hajiji said ISB will act as the secretariat for an investment committee comprising state and federal agencies as well as relevant stakeholders to vet all investment proposals.
He said ISB’s success will a boon to the state’s economic progress in achieving one of the main thrusts of the Halatuju Sabah Maju Jaya (SMJ), the GRS government’s
five-year development plan.
SMJ’s focuss will be on three main thrusts, namely agriculture, tourism and industrial sectors; human capital and people’s well-being, as well as infrastructure network and green sustainability.
The meeting endorsed the appointment Datuk Dr Joachim Gunsalam, Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Industrial Development as ISB Deputy Chairman and Board Members namely Datuk Seri Sr Safar Untong (State Secretary), Datuk Nor Asiah Mohd Yusof (State Attorney-General), Tuan Hj Rusdin Riman (Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance), Mr. Thomas Logijin (Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Industrial Development), Mr. Bernard Liew (Director, Lands & Surveys Department), Puan Helena Masry (Director, State Economic Planning Unit), Dato Azman Mahmud(CEO, MIDA Malaysia), Datuk Tan Kim Beng and Datuk John Lo (SEAC), Datuk Madiyem Layapan, Mr Fu Fui Leong (Company Secretary) and Ms Anndirrina Chong(Board Secretary).
Datuk Madiyem Layapan was also officially endorsed as ISB’s Chief Executive Officer.-pr/BNN
