Hamim (centre) and Naroden (left) looking at the carbonated drinks produced by Cinqasa. — Photo by Mohd Rais Sanusi
KUCHING: Sarawak ranked third in overall investment value in the manufacturing sector in the country, said Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry (Miti) Datuk Hamim Samuri.
He also said the state’s approved investment amounted to RM8.276 billion last year compared to RM4.72 billion in 2012.
Placed behind Johor and Selangor, with Penang ranked fourth, he told the press yesterday that this proved that the state was moving forward and would continue to be able to attract investors to the sector.
Describing the overall performance of the manufacturing industry in the state as very encouraging, he said the value of investments to the state doubled and became the third highest in the country.
“In fact, the manufacturing industry had provided professional and non-professional job opportunities in the state,” he told the press conference yesterday.
“For example, the SunEdison, they are a leading solar technology manufacturer based on green technology. They are able to provide professional and non-professional job opportunities and 90 per cent of the workers are Sarawakians,” he added.
Hamim said Johor recorded the highest investment value of RM14.445 billion, followed by Selangor at RM9.833 billion.
Earlier, Hamim held a series of visits to various Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) factories; namely SunEdison, MUSC Food Industries Sdn Bhd and Cinqasa Sdn Bhd.
SunEdison is a factory producing solar technologies while MUSC Food Industries processes ‘Sarawak Laksa’ paste and ‘Sarawak Belacan’ paste, and Cinqasa produces carbonated beverages.
He expressed confidence that the products and services provided by the factories would have high market potentials judging by the increasing demand for them.
In addition, he said all the three factories he visited proved that they could apply advanced technology in their systems, which would be a pull factor for other foreign investors to come over to the state.
“They had proven Sarawak can become the source for new technology. These are the catalyst of development at industrial level besides creating an ecosystem and wider value chain in economy as well as investment hub in the state,” he said.
Besides that, he said the state can provide facilities for high technology factories as proven by SunEdison which manufactures solar wafer for solar panels.
“SunEdision is also aiming to expand their operation and they are working hard to attract other investors so that they can make bigger value chain and reduce logistic cost,” he added.
Among those present at the press conference was Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Office (Bumiputera Entrepreneur Development) Datuk Mohd Naroden Majais.