SCORE a ‘treasure trove’ for job opportunities

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Image shows Siam during the seminar talking on the opportunities that are available for local Sarawakian companies.

Image shows Siam during the seminar talking on the opportunities that are available for local Sarawakian companies.

KUCHING: The Regional Corridor Development Authority (RECODA) noted that there is still plenty of opportunities for local companies to tap into when it comes to the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE).

To note, there are eight major investment components in the SCORE initiative – namely energy, physical infrastructure, targeted industries, manpower, new growth nodes, marine engineering/shipbuilding, halal hub and tourism as well as environmental management.

According to Regional Corridor Development Authority (Recoda) head of audit Siten Siam, these initiatives creates investment components in seven major industries such as water, telecommunications, waste disposal, deep sea ports, education/training centers and social infrastructures which local companies could take advantage of.

“With RM334 billion worth of planned investment, only 20 per cent would be from government funding which would mainly be on basic infrastructure,” said Siam during the Workforce Development Unit, Chief Minister’s Department & Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers Seminar 2015 yesterday.

“The other 80 per cent is going to be from the private sectors and these give rise to many opportunities for our local economy.”

With places such as the Samalaju Industrial Park already generating billions worth of investments, there are also other areas which small medium enterprises (SMEs) can tap into such as the Mukah Smart City economic trigger.

“Opportunities that lie in Mukah alone include education, agri-tech research, biotech, ICT industries, food, fisheries, and cultural industries.

“There is also the Matadeng Industrial Estate which the government encourages SMEs to look into,” he added.

In 2015, manpower demand for the SCORE area is expected to be at 566,233 with 145,445 being new jobs. By 2030, the figure is expected to reach 1,088,025 with 667,238 of it being new jobs generated.

“SCORE’s progress and focus for the past five years has been on the Samalaju Industrial Park. The other nodes concurrently implemented in terms of infrastructure are Tanjung Manis, Mukah Smart City and Baram.

“For Tunoh, Samarakan and other secondary growth nodes in the hinterland areas are now in advance stage of planning under the SCORE Hinterland Study and are currently awaiting funding approval.

“Thus far, SCORE has attracted lots of foreign direct investors, corporate players, bankers, financiers, fund analysts and security experts, and we feel that there is more to come from this initiative.”