LAHAD DATU: A halal park is being planned for the Lahad Datu Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC Lahad Datu) to tap the potential in oil palm-based food and personal care products, as well as marine and fisheries-based manufactured products.
The park, to cover 100 acres of the POIC Lahad Datu, will create opportunities for small and medium enterprises and make the district a new economic growth centre in Sabah.
The plan was revealed by Datuk Dr Pang Teck Wai, the chief executive officer of state-owned POIC Sabah Sdn Bhd, during a briefing for a delegation from Malaysia Fishery Development Authority(LKIM) here recently.
The LKIM group was led by its chairman Datuk Irmohizam Hashim and accompanied by POIC chairman Datuk Datu Nasrun Mansur.
Pang in a statement here today said POIC Lahad Datu had been awarded the Halmas certificate by the Halal Development Corp of Malaysia, the only one in Sabah.
“The global halal market is worth US$2.4 trillion. Malaysia is already well known and trusted for it’s halal certification,” he said, adding, Lahad Datu has oil palm and rich fishery resources.
“Therefore, the halal potential must be developed to greater heights in industrialising the state,” he added.
Lahad Datu is located in a Muslim-majority region of the Brunei-Indonesia Malaysia-the Philippines- East ASEAN Growth Area(BIMP-EAGA), which has a market of more than 60 million people.
Seaweed and cultured prawns are also well developed in this region, covering Sabah, Sarawak, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Irian Jaya and the Southern Philippines.
The Darvel Bay near Lahad Datu is renowned for its water quality and low level of pollution.
It has been identified as the national aquaculture hub under the 10th Malaysia Plan.
It’s huge potential has yet to be tapped, especially in the supply of marine products.
Aside from requesting funds for the halal park development under the 11th Malaysia Plan (from 2016), POIC Sabah is also proposing a bio-refinery cluster aimed at developing the bio-chemical potential of palm oil.
The cluster, which can leap-frog Sabah’s oil palm industry to higher value, will be anchored by a Malaysia-United States joint venture involving the Genting Group.
This RM1.7 billion investment will use a patented process to produce high-value oleo products.
According to Pang the POIC’s focus was industrialising Sabah and developing appropriate and comprehensive infrastructure to attract foreign direct investments (FDIs).
“This is the key to taking Sabah’s manufacturing to a higher position in the state economy.
“In order to shift Sabah’s manufacturing sector towards an industrial state, we need FDIs which provide the technology and capital,” he added.
POIC Lahad Datu to date boasts a set of port infrastructure unseen elsewhere in Sabah. It has in operation a barge landing terminal, a dry bulk terminal and a liquid terminal.
A Federal-funded RM450 million container terminal is due for commissioning in 2017. — Bernama