News From : DagangHalal.com (19 Aug 2009)
KUCHING: The halal hub in Tanjung Manis in central Sarawak will be able to produce RM5bil worth of halal products a year in the next five to 10 years.
Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud said a wide range of products would be manufactured for the export markets.
“The halal hub will produce products from palm oil. We can encourage the palm oil industry to widen its product range,” he added when opening the Sarawak Investment and Trade dialogue and seminar yesterday.
Halal Industry Development Corp Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Jamil Bidin was reported to have said recently that the Tanjung Manis halal park had attracted some RM9bil in investments from 11 companies, of which six are Taiwanese.
These companies would venture into aquaculture, biotechnology and modern farming.
Taib said he would perform the earth-breaking ceremony for the proposed biotechnology laboratory project in the halal hub, located within the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE), later this year.
He said the state had to train a pool of knowlegeable manpower to undertake research and development activities in the hub.
Taib said the state authorities were now carrying out a manpower study to ensure there was no mismatch in manpower training and the jobs required in SCORE.
He said the setting up of energy-intensive industries, like aluminium smelters, in SCORE, would facilitiate the development of related downstream industries which the small and medium enterprises could venture into.
He said Sarawak should be able to produce another 5,000MW of electricity from hydro dams by 2020.
‘”We can add another 20,000MW from hydro and coal resources by 2030,” he added. Sarawak is now developing the 900MW Murum hydro dam project.
It plans to develop a dozen other hydro dams, most of them in the upper reaches of the Rejang River basin.