Sabah Moves Into High Gear To Launch SDC

KOTA KINABALU, Jan 28 (Bernama) -- Word has spread. The much- awaited event deemed to be very significant for the state -- the launch of the Sabah Development Corridor (SDC) -- takes place tomorrow at the Sepanggar Bay Container Port near here.

Banners bearing the portraits of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman with brief information on the launch are noticeable along major roads leading to the Sepanggar Bay Container Port while the giant billboards on the occasion have been positioned at strategic locations.

The 18-year plan from 2008 to 2025, to be launched by Abdullah, will not only benefit the business community but most importantly all the people of Sabah, a resource-rich state.

The SDC is the fourth economic corridor to be launched in Malaysia, after the Iskandar Development Region in southern Johor (IDR), Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) and East Coast Economic Region (ECER).

The SDC will cover every corner of the state to ensure that everyone in the state gets to enjoy the benefits it brings.

"What we like to see that it (SDC) benefits the locals but also open up avenues for foreign participation," said Institute for Development Studies Sabah (IDS) executive director Datuk Mohd Yaakob Johari, who is the consultant for the SDC blueprint.

The implementation of prioritised programmes under the SDC is also expected to increase Sabah's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) almost four-fold from RM16 billion in 2006 to RM63.26 billion in 2025.

More than 900,000 new jobs are expected to be created in the 18-year SDC implementation period.

The sectors being promoted under the SDC initiative are agriculture, tourism, manufacturing and logistics.

The SDC aims to multiply the agriculture sector's GDP contribution by 4.1times to RM17 billion, increase total value of exports from RM9.1 billion to RM60 billion and reduce the negative balance of trade in food by 60 percent to RM353 million.

Three agriculture-based projects -- National Marine Aquaculture Centre, National Breeding Centre and Sabah Agro-Industrial Precinct -- have been identified as mega agriculture projects to be given a strong push in the SDC.

"We want to take these 18 years (period of the SDC) to eradicate poverty and enhance the livelihood of people in the agricultural sector," said State Agriculture and Food Industries Minister Datuk Abdul Rahim Ismail.

The SDC targets the tourism receipts to soar to RM48.5 billion by 2025 from just RM2.88 billion in 2006.

Among the SDC's highlights for tourism development is marketing Sabah as an exclusive holiday home destination, developing new tourism products anchored by signature resorts, encouraging rural participation through community-based tourism and developing a one-district one-product programme.

In the manufacturing sector, the oil & gas and biomass recovery sectors will be among the priority sectors.

A new industrial park -- Sipitang Industrial Park which is earmarked for gas-based and shipbuilding-related projects -- will take off following the launch of SDC.

The manufacturing sector targets by 2025 to boost capital investments to RM2.96 billion from RM208 million in 2006.

Strategies have been outlined for the logistics sector to address the current high cost of doing business which includes the establishment of the Sepanggar Free Zone adjacent to the Sepanggar Bay Container Port.

-- BERNAMA