News From : DagangHalal.com (20 Sep 2010)
KUCHING, Sept 20 (Bernama) — Foreign investors, especially from the Middle East, are to confirm their participation in the Tanjung Manis Halal Hub project after visiting the 16,000ha site within the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) for a development preview.
Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC) general manager Datuk Sarudu Hoklai said the Arab investors were particulalrly keen to tap on the vast investment potentials because of the halal concept and green policy development of the hub’s products.
“They are still negotiating with the state government and we are looking forward to follow up with more detailed discussions soon,” he told reporters at the STIDC Hari Raya open house at Wisma Sumber Alam in Petra Jaya, today.
The keen interest on the halal hub, for which the state government has tasked the STIDC to provide more facilities and basic infrastructures for the Tanjung Manis township, was the outcome of a high-level delegation led by Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud to London in July.
Taib had said the development of the halal hub as a green area would be highly controlled by bio-technical processes, with a laboratory being set up to ensure that the process would be well controlled and in conformity with the organic nature of the products.
Sarudu said a group of investors from Bahrain, who came here in April, had also expressed interest in setting up business ventures in the state’s food-producing sector, especially rice and livestock, as part of food security.
So far, the halal hub’s infrastructure works, including roads, power and water supplies, were in good progress and should be ready when the investors come in, he said.
Among the infrastructures are the 20km-long Jalan Serdeng that links Sibu and Tanjung Manis besides upgrading of the deepsea Tanjung Manis Port, airport and banking facilities.
“Although we (STIDC) would like to have them completed much faster, we have other constraints faced by other agencies in such a big exercise,” he said.
In terms of accessibility, Sarudu said Tanjung Manis was well connected by road via Mukah and Sibu as the entry point for investors while the existing deepsea port was vital in terms of logistics.
However, there was a need to improve air connectivity, with better airport facilities that were equipped to handle bigger aircraft as economic activities in the area accelerated, he said.
Currently, Tanjung Manis Airport can only accommodate MASwing’s 19-seater Twin Otter planes.
— BERNAMA