Awang Tengah (centre) hosts the delegates from Samalaju Investors Industrial Association Bintulu, led by Koon (fifth right). Also seen (from second left) are Buckland, Chong, Liaw and Ismawi.
KUCHING: Samalaju Investors Industrial Association Bintulu office-bearers paid a courtesy call on Deputy Chief Minister III Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan at Wisma Sumber Alam here yesterday.
The visiting delegates were led by the association’s president Koon Poh Ming.
In his remarks Awang Tengah – also Minister of Industrial and Entrepreneur Development – pointed out that it is high time for the government and the association to come out with some kind of statistics showing the percentage of contributions in terms of employment and wages, as well as engagement of local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by various companies investing in Samalaju Industrial Park.
He said it would be better to be able to see the investments, in view of the change in federal government following the outcome of the 14th general election (GE14) on May 9 this year.
“The Sarawak government will continue to ensure that the investors would feel secure with their investments,” he stressed.
Awang Tengah also reiterated the top-priority need for the mega-investment companies in Samalaju Industrial Park to engage local workforce and companies as much as possible, so that the investment spin-offs could prosper the local SMEs and communities.
He also called upon the industry players to give special attention to the environmental concerns in the industrial park, urging Bintulu Development Authority (BDA) to come up with a comprehensive landscape master plan that could help the investing companies to beautify the environment and enhance conservation towards creating the right perception of ‘heavy industries giving priority to environmental conservation’.
In his remarks Koon, who is also the Press Metal Group executive director, said Samalaju Investors Industrial Association Bintulu felt honoured to have had the opportunity to meet Awang Tengah in that they were able to share some information and gain feedback on the needs by the industries, on behalf of the investors.
He lauded Awang Tengah on the latter’s idea about having proper landscaping projects to beautify Samalaju Industrial Park and in this respect, he assured the minister that the association would comply with this call.
On the immediate needs of the industries, Koon proposed for the Sarawak government to set up specific training centres slated for providing skilled workforce required by the industries, in collaboration with the relevant quarters.
Regional Corridor Development Authority (Recoda) CEO Datu Ismawi Ismuni, BDA acting general manager Abdullah Mohd Sheriff, Ministry for Industrial and Entrepreneur Development permanent secretary Datu Liaw Soon Eng, State Planning Unit director Buckland Bangit and Sarawak Energy Bhd senior manager (key account management and interconnection) Nicholas Chong were also present at the meeting.