Teo (second right), Lim (right) and Kwan (left) with one of the HOMEDEC contest winners yesterday.
KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC) is expected to be ready next year.
Special Tasks Minister, Datuk Teo Chee Kang told the media at the HomeDec and IPEX Sabah 2017 launch yesterday that SICC was progressing well and would likely be completed anytime next year.
Once completed and launched, the city will have a bigger venue to carry out business events such as exhibitions the likes of that organised by HOMEDEC and IPEX Sabah, he said.
“We are looking forward to the new venue,” he said.
In his speech earlier, Teo said that the event provided a semi-trade platform to serve the demands of home interior, architecture and properties needs under one roof for Sabah.
He added that the event provided an opportunity for participants or trade visitors to discuss trade, investment and collaborators whilst allowing exhibitors to meet face-to-face with trade visitors and homeowners for the latest technology, innovation products of the market.
“I believe IPEX and HOMEDEC’s effort has been pivotal to the growth of the industry here,” he said.
Nevertheless, Teo stressed that in order for exhibitions to be relevant, it needs to have far reaching impact on all stakeholders in the industry.
“IPEX and HOMEDEC joining hands together is proven to be an effective platform in strengthening the industry’s ecosystem. It has facilitated thousands of industry stakeholders in making the right connections,” he said.
Among the activity to be held concurrently with the exhibition is the Edible Architectural competition for primary and secondary school students organised by PAM.
At the same time, the HOMEDEC contest with prizes more than RM200,000 will also be held. Gold bars worth RM100,000 will also be given away.
Meanwhile, the organiser of HOMEDEC and president of the CIS Network Sdn Bhd, Dato Vincent Lim said that more visitors were expected at the HOMEDEC and IPEX event which began yesterday and end on April 23.
The event is held at the 1Borneo Hypermall.
“We are expecting an increase of between five percent and 10 percent this year,” he said.
He also said that their event last year generated RM14.3 million in sales and were expecting this to increase.
A total of 250 booths and 90 exhibitors are taking part in the event.
Also present was PAM Sabah Chapter chairman and Organiser of IPEX, Arnold Kwan.