KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman said the property sector is one of the key drivers of the Malaysian economy.
Musa who is also the state Finance Miniter said the sector was central to financial health of some 140 related industries.
“Property developers are linked to profesionals, financiers, building materials suppliers, transporters, products specialists, contractor and so forth. The most important in this chain are property buyers,” he said.
Musa said this in his speech at the ‘Sabah Welcomes Malaysia’s Top Property Developers’ event here last night. The event honours top property developers who were the winners of The Edge Malaysia Property Excellence Awards 2014.
Present at the ceremony was Minister of Urban Welbeing, Housing and Local Government Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan.
“This evening, we honour responsible property developers for your efforts in ensuring delivery of quality products to your clients and your corporate social responsibilities to society,” Musa said.
Sabah was honoured for being selected as the destination of the first ever newtworking trip by property industry leaders and winners of The Edge Property Excellence Awards, he added.
According to him, property developers also played a very important role in tourism industry in Sabah by providing more hotels and resorts to meet the increasing demand for such facilities for tourists and to further develop the tourism sector.
He said Sabah was still a destination of choice among tourists, and in the last year alone some three million visitors arrived in the state and the number continued to increase despite some challenges it had to face, including security related issues.
Musa also invited the top property developers to tap the increase demand for residential properties such as landed properties and apartments by expanding their products in different segments, be it commercial or residential, adding that healthy competition augured well for end users.
“In spite of challenges facing the property market, I urge developers to ensure property prices do not escalate beyond the reach of the people. In your endeavour, I hope you will make room for more affordable housing within the property market,” he said.
On the property neworking visit to Kota Kinabalu, Musa hoped the property developers could see Sabah’s potential not only in tourism, but also in trade and investment.
He said Sabah was geared towards attracting manufacturing investments particularly in the downstream oil and gas and palm oil sectors, and the efforts would gradually result in opportunities for more property development. — Bernama