news coming? 116 Feb 2012 11:41
leedskier - 16 Feb'12 - 11:28 - 3893 of 3894
I grew up there ... my father was flying there for four years during the emergency ....
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/2/16/business/20120216123151&sec=business
SANDAKAN: The Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC) in Lahad Datu, which opened six years ago, has attracted RM3 billion in investments so far from both foreign and local investors.
For Sabah's Industrial Development Minister, Datuk Raymond Tan Shu Kiah, the investments are an indication that the state government, assisted by the federal government, have set upon the right track with their efforts to develop the area.
A total of 30 foreign investors including from Europe, Singapore, South Korea and Japan as well as investors from Kuala Lumpur have made their investments there. The investors from Kuala Lumpur include those involved in biodiesel and fertilizers based operations.
The Lahad Datu POIC is a government effort to promote the downstream activities in the oil palm industry while adding value, creating job opportunities and enabling the transfer of technology in the industry, Tan said.
A total of 600 hectares have already been developed under the concept of sell and rent to investors to open up their factories.
With the high potential indicated, the state government opened up another 1,200-hectare area of land for the development of POIC at Teluk Darvel, he told Bernama here.
Tan said the POIC was a new approach for the industry in the state which in the past had seen its income dependent mainly on the sales of its natural resources such as oil palm, timber, rubber, and cocoa to overseas markets.
The process of producing products from its natural resources had been also done out of the country, he said.
He said the state government had come to realise this and have now taken the move to produce the goods within the state as this will increase the value of the commodities involved.
It was amid this that the government took the initiative to set up the Lahad Datu POIC in 2006 to encourage crude palm oil based downstream activities, he said.
The district of Lahad Datu was chosen for the POIC as it was among the districts in the east coast of Sabah with the largest oil palm plantations besides the Sandakan and Tawau districts.
"The CPO produced and processed by several palm oil mills around the region could be sent directly to the downstream activity based factories located at the POIC," he said.
The availability of a deepwater port in Lahad Datu was also a major factor for the choice of the area for the POIC as it provided easy access for big ships to the port for the transportation and loading of CPO.
The government had given attention for the development of the infrastructure and facilities to attract more foreign investors to POIC Lahad Datu, he said.
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