KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah State Government fully supports any effort to drive
economic activity and nurture human capital development to sustain and grow long-term
investments coming to the state.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Hajiji Haji Noor said Sabah’s economy has remained resilient, proven by the fact that from 2020 to 2022, it has secured investments
worth RM11.5 billion with 89 projects generating over 4,500 job opportunities for
Sabahans.
“Of the RM11.5 billion, RM9.2 billion consisted of foreign direct investments (FDI) and
another RM2.3 billion are domestic investments.
“This represented 72.9 per cent of the investments or RM8.4 billion for the
manufacturing sector, primary sector comprising agriculture, mining, commodity and
plantation (RM1.6b) and the service sector (RM1.5b).
“Apart from these, I am also delighted to share that the Integrated Green Steel Project,
worth RM19.6 billion at the Sipitang Oil and Gas Industrial Park, is expected to create
more than 10,000 high-skilled job opportunities for the local community,” he said.
Furthermore, Malaysian Borneo will soon have an excellent infrastructure that will
expand economic activities to previously inaccessible locations within both states with
the completion of the Pan Borneo Highway project coupled with the construction of
Phase Two and Phase Three of the Sabah-Sarawak Link Road (SSLR) Project, he said.
“While such investments place Sabah and Sarawak in good stead, we need a strong,
dynamic and agile workforce and talent pool to sustain and grow these investments for
the long term.
“Beyond that, strong human capital is essential in ensuring we continue to create and
maintain well-developed infrastructure and stay ahead of increasing competition in
Southeast Asia,” he said at the National Human Capital Conference and Exhibition
(NHCCE) 2023 – Borneo Region held at the Sabah International Convention Centre
(SICC) here today.
The Chief Minister’s speech was delivered by Deputy Chief Minister I/Minister of
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Industry Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Jeffrey Kitingan.
Hajiji said that the NHCCE 2023 – Borneo Region was a timely event with these projects
in place.
“The Conference and Exhibition came at a time when we should be placing greater
importance on developing more strategic human capital development solutions for
Sabah and Sarawak. This will put us in a stronger position to ensure the success of all
these current and upcoming development projects,” he said.
The Chief Minister said the NHCCE 2023 – Borneo Region is an excellent platform for
government representatives, academia, industry players, and working professionals in
Sabah and Sarawak to discuss their human capital challenges and opportunities
meaningfully.
Likewise, he said delegates could use this opportunity to learn from the experts how to
adopt innovative solutions, garner data-driven insights and utilise key analytics for
effective decision-making.
Federal Minister of Human Resources V. Sivakumar was also in attendance.-pr/BNN
