Awang Tengah (fourth left), flanked by Nansian on his left and Julaihi, joins the ministry’s officers and staff for a group photograph. Liaw is standing on the left.
KUCHING: Sarawak wants more infrastructure development and public facilities to be built in the state under the 11th Malaysian Plan (11MP).
For that reason, a meeting was called last month involving state and federal agencies and financial institutions to discuss planning and coordination to realise the objectives.
Industrial Development Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan said it was crucial to have proper planning ahead of the roll-out of the 11MP.
“We should give priority to what we deem priority needs for Sarawak.
“Because of that, coordination is key and we want all agencies to understand the planning that we have at the state level. Through planning, we will be able to fit in the programmes we want to implement.
“In the 11th Malaysian Plan, we want to see more development in the state in terms of infrastructure development and public facilities,” he said at a Ramah Tamah Aidilftri dinner organised by the Ministry of Industrial Development’s social and recreation club here on Saturday.
He said his ministry looked forward to the setting up of more industrial estates, not just in urban centres, to facilitate the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the state.
The state government also wanted better facilities for industrial estates in Samalaju and Kuching, where there are heavy industries, and electronic and information technology-related industries respectively, he added.
“We will be focusing efforts on developing the small and medium industries. That is why cooperation between the agencies must be closer so that we can extend assistance to our SMEs in terms of financial assistance and so on.”
He pointed out that skills training would also be given priority attention to fill up vacancies created by the industries.
“If we do not focus on skills training, we will be totally dependent on foreign labour.”
Awang Tengah also called on agencies under his ministry to continue their close cooperation with their counterparts at the federal level, citing the ministry’s tasks were now getting more significant to ensure that all policies and programmes could be successfully implemented.
He said implementation of the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) had been smooth, with a few companies already operating there.
“Last year, a company (Comtec Solar) from China chose to make Kuching its production centre for solar wafer.”
Also present at the dinner were the ministry’s Assistant Minister Datuk Peter Nansian Ngusie and Datuk Julaihi Narawi, permanent secretary Datu Liaw Soon Eng and Kuching Port Authority chairman Datuk Awang Bemee Awang Ali Basah.
At the gathering, Awang Tengah presented excellent service awards and souvenirs to retiring staff.
He also distributed incentives to club members’ children who excelled in public examinations.