News from Sabah

Special focus to boost the three main sectors
Published on: Friday, April 17, 2009

Kota Kinabalu: Special focus will be given to boost the capability of Sabah's three main economic sectors - manufacturing, agriculture and tourism - in the face of the sluggish global economy, said Head of State Tun Ahmadshah Abdullah.
He said the gloomy global economy has made it difficult to predict the impact of the crisis and as far as Sabah is concerned, the impact is yet to be felt due to the "lagged effect", as experienced in previous crises.
He pointed out that the State's trade balance from January until November 2008 continued to show a favourable value of RM17.2 billion compared to the corresponding period in 2007.
However, the growth of imports and exports had begun to slide in November last year with import value dropping by 23 per cent and export slid by seven per cent.
Delivering the State Government's policy speech in conjunction with the official opening of the 13th State Legislative Assembly's second term here Thursday, Ahmadshah said as with other countries an insignificant growth in private investments and usage is expected with investors adopting a wait-and-see attitude.
But, he was confident the many incentives and assistance introduced under the second economic stimulus package worth RM60 billion would be able to boost the confidence of private investors.
"Public investments will play an important role and act as catalyst to the State's economic growth this year," he said.
The special emphasis to be given to the three major economic development sectors, which were expected to continue to be Sabah's main income earner this year, he said, was also in line with the National Mission to intensify the on-going programmes under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP).
He said the implementation of the final phase of the 9MP was being challenged by uncertainties in the global economy.
In the agriculture sector, Ahmadshah said the State Government guided by the Sabah Second Agriculture Policy, National Third Agriculture Policy and Sabah Development Corridor (SDC) was confident of meeting the target of self-sufficiency, particularly with the abundance of land and sea resources that are yet to be fully exploited.
Under the SDC, commercial scale livestock centres would be established in Keningau for dairy cows, Nabawan for meat and Agropolitan Project - dairy cows in Kota Belud.
He said the Fisheries Department would continue to discharge its responsibility to ensure sustainable harvesting of marine resources for food. He noted that the Federal Government had, under the 9MP, allocated RM84 million to the agriculture sector this year.
In the tourism sector, he said the sluggish world economy had resulted in a drop in revenue from RM4.62 billion in 2007 to RM4.09 billion last year.
In this respect, he said the State Government would ensure that the sector remains as Sabah's main income earner through quality management and development of tourism products, human capital development, marketing, efficient and integrated logistic networking as well as proper infrastructure.
"The State Government through strategic partnership with the private sector will take integrated action to ensure adequate five-star accommodation," he said, adding that commitment from all quarters was also needed to create a clean environment and people-friendly basic amenities.
Ahmadshah said the manufacturing sector in Sabah expected to see a slight growth reduction in 2009 and 2010 due to the investors being more cautious and this was already being felt with only 11 applications to set up factories received in the first three months this year compared to 17 in the same period last year.
However, he was confident that special focuses through the programmes and development projects for the sector under the 9MP and SDC for the 2009-2010 period would be able to stimulate continuous economic development.
He said the State Government must reciprocate the strong commitment of the Federal Government to develop Sabah by doubling efforts to implement all development plans effectively and efficiently.
He said notable positive impacts on the various sectors in Sabah are expected following measures introduced in the 2009 State Budget, funding from the Federal Government for the SDC as well as the RM1 billion special allocation and RM60 billion economic stimulus package.
"I am confident the State Government will continue to bring prosperity and improvement to the people's living quality, especially in rural areas often associated with poverty.
"This is also proven when the State Government allocated RM50 million in January this year to help out palm oil smallholders deal with the commodity's price drop," he said.
Ahmadshah commended the State Government under the leadership of Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman who is also Finance Minister for successfully strengthening the State's financial position.
Last year, he said the State Government chalked a revenue collection of RM3.34 billion and was able to galvanise the State's reserves.
"This achievement is a manifestation of the State Government's effort in carrying out the duty entrusted to it to bring progress for the benefit of the people," he said.
In this respect, he urged the Bumiputera to participate actively in the business and industrial sectors that are competitive and resilient in order to wade through the global market and gloomy economy.
Ahmadshah also called for the galvanisation of social development programmes in order to strengthen the family institution and boost community participation.
He said the Government would work together with the NGOs and private sector in the implementation of social development programmes with the aim to foster a caring society and spur integration as well as unity.
He acknowledged that the Government needs to step up efforts to provide support and more attention to children, orphans, people with disability, single mothers or senior citizens through special programmes and facilities so that they can live a normal life.
And at the same time, steps to provide people from across the board comfortable, quality and affordable homes especially the lower income group.
In this instance, he said the private sector is encouraged to build more medium-cost houses while the public sector focuses on low-cost houses for the needy in the urban, outskirts and rural areas in a bid to eliminate squatter settlements.
He said the State Government's initiative to develop the Sandakan Education Hub was in support of human capital development and it was a positive step to bolster the training institutions in the State.
He added the Government must also take continuous steps to address the impact of the economic recession at an early stage to prevent workers from losing jobs and an increase in the unemployment rate.
Ahmadshah said the State Government would continue to be committed to environment and natural resource conservation.
Wide usage of the Environment Planning Instrument such as the Strategic Environmental Assessment would continue to be encouraged, he said, adding the instrument was imperative not only in ensuring optimum usage of natural resources but also improve awareness among the people on the preservation of the environment.
Similarly, he said the State Government had been implementing the Sustainable Forest Management policy since 1989 and its next goal was to assure the role of forest as the State's thrust of economy.
In the empowering of the State civil service, Ahmadshah was glad that the One Stop Agency chaired by the State Secretary Datuk Sukarti Wakiman had been effective in expediting all administrative needs as far as the State's development is concerned.
"The transformation of the State civil service to improve professionalism and its image needs to be continuously assessed and reviewed to ensure the efficacy of the government delivery system," he said.
As for regional development, he said the State Government would continue to support the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines-East Asian Growth Area (Bimp-Eaga) due to its importance in terms of regional security and promotion of regional and international trade.
In conclusion, the Head of State hoped the global economy would improve as Sabah enters the 10th Malaysia Plan in two years from now.
"In the meantime, we must work hard and be committed to ensure all the planned projects can be implemented effectively and smoothly for the sake of the people," he said.
He also took the opportunity to congratulate Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak for his appointment as the sixth Prime Minister.
Ahmadshah also congratulated the appointment of several Sabah natives to the Federal Cabinet, which he hoped not only strengthened the new Cabinet line-up but more importantly directly benefit Sabah, especially in realising the development initiative for the people.
He was confident the Malaysia, in general, and Sabah, especially, would achieve greater heights under the new Federal leadership, particularly with the propagation of the "1Malaysia, People First" concept.
The State Assembly sitting will resume on Monday.