China’s Fortune 500 firm optimistic about Sabah’s growth
KOTA KINABALU 9th April, 2012: The boss of a Chinese company listed among the Fortune’s top 500 companies of the world has expressed great optimism about the economic future of Sabah during his visit to the state.
Zou Weimin, chairman of the Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC), one of China’s largest companies sees four pillars of growth for Sabah.
“With Sabah’s huge oil and gas reserves constituting over 60 per cent of Malaysia’s total and the worldwide demand for energy escalating at an inevitable pace, Sabah’s economic future is guaranteed,” he said.
“Moreover, the international demand for edible cooking oils, especially palm oil, will increase and Sabah has over 35 per cent of the country’s planted acreage and so this is the second pillar of growth for the state,” he added.
The third pillar of growth, according to Zou is Sabah’s tourism growth and the income-earning capacity as well as the employment generation potential of the tourism sector.
“Sabah has far more tourism potential than most of the other countries in the region,” he said.
“Kota Kinabalu, in particular, has the potential to be developed as an entreport in the same way that Singapore was originally developed.
“Thus, Kota Kinabalu can be the link between the BIMP-EAGA whereas when Singapore was developed in the 1960s, it only had Malaya and minor barter trade with Indonesia,” he said.
Zou said Kota Kinabalu could also become a distribution hub and a food-processing hub for the region, collecting and processing food derived from a very fertile hinterland, which is the BIMP-EAGA.
He reckoned that when Kota Kinabalu became the hub with redistribution infrastructure to other BIMP-EAGA countries, the voyage time from East Asia could be cut by well over 70 per cent, a great saving for international shipping.
Zou earlier visited the construction site of the Pacific parade in Likas here, soon to become the largest commercial cum residential development in the state.
MCC is the main contractor for the entire development project to be undertaken in phases.
Zou, who was accompanied by his deputies, Zhangshou and Li Jiyang, also hailed the state leadership which he described as ‘pro-development & business oriented’ and ‘dynamic & farsighted’, essential ingredients to lead and sustain rapid economic growth.
He expressed satisfaction over the preparation for commencement of construction work on the Pacific Parade. He was confident that work would be completed on schedule and would be on par with international standards that MCC consistently delivered worldwide.
Zou said MCC would deploy its huge resources of manpower, equipment, technology, experience and materials to ensure speedy completion of the project, perhaps even ahead of schedule.
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Billion ringgit development in Kota Kinabalu
“The malls today are no longer just places to buy things; they are an essential part of urban living and must provide entertainment and lifestyle for the whole family.
“Malls that do not evolve to provide this and just remain as places to buy things will soon be eclipsed and will not attract patrons,” Kuok said adding that “this is our experience not only in China but also worldwide,”
KP Kuok, the Managing Director of Ideal Prestige Sdn Bhd
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