SCORE's second phase in 2016

SCORE continues to align devt efforts towards 2030

by Justin Yap, justinyap@theborneopost.com. 

Posted on November 24, 2012, Saturday

KUCHING: Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) will enters its phase two development towards vision 2020 from 2016 onwards to ensure growth and development of the corridor by building industrial clusters and value chains as well as to develop research and development capabilities.

According to Buckland Bangik, principal assistant director of State Planning Unit for SCORE and Industry, the main aim in phase two was to align development efforts with vision 2020 before entering the third phase which would be on the ‘corridor fruition’ stage until 2030.

SCORE is currently in phase one (2008-2015), which is to build critical mass and momentum to trigger development and to implement high priority infrastructure projects.

“In the meantime, we are also trying very hard to bring in more investments into the state despite we are still in the ‘laying the foundation’ stage,” he stressed during the KTS business partners talk yesterday.

While SCORE welcomes all types of investments from the local and foreign direct investors, 10 industries has also been identified as priority industries, namely the aluminium industry, glass, oil-based industry, steel, palm oil, fishing and aquaculture, livestock, timber, marine engineering as well as tourism.

Priority industries are industries that would have the highest economic impact on Sarawak and should be given priority focus in marketing planning, investment promotion and physical development planning.

Bangik further pointed out that more focus would be given to aluminium, glass, oil-based as well as steel industry because each of the respective industry could create a lot of clusters and supporting industries that can be generated.

“In terms of investment, SCORE needs at least RM334 billion within the next 22 years which 80 per cent of it will come from the private funding and the remaining from the government,” he explained.

To date, the total approved investment for SCORE is almost RM30 billion particularly in the energy intensive industries in the Samalaju Industrial Park. The five companies that has begun construction were Press Metal, Tokuyama Corporation, Asia Minerals Ltd, OM Holdings Ltd and Asia Advanced Materials.

The core of the corridor is the abundance energy resources particularly hydropower (20,000 megawatt), coal (1.46 billion tonnes) and natural gas (40.9 trillion square cubic feet).

These initiatives enable Sarawak to price energy competitively and stimulate investments in the power generation and energy-intensive industries, consequently turning them into vibrant industries in the corridor.

These initiatives he said, were divided into five growth nodes with respective focus areas.

For example, the Mukah Node that would be developed into a Smart City and serve as the nerve centre for the corridor. The Tanjung Manis Node would be developed into an Industrial Port City and Halal Hub.

The Samalaju Node would become the new Heavy Industry Centre while Baram and Tunoh would focus on the tourism and resource-based industries.

Currently, Sarawak’s GDP per capita is US$13,000 and it is expected to increase to US$15,000 by 2020 to achieve high-income status. This would be realised through the steady inflow of more private investment in key sectors of the state’s economy.

By the year 2030, Bangik said Sarawak’s real GDP was expected to increase by 5.1 times from RM23 billion to RM118 billion with 1.6 million more jobs to be created. Sarawak population was also expected to rise by 1.9 times to 4.6 million people.

“SCORE is a holistic development approach covering economy, social, environment, rural development and poverty eradication in tandem with the New Economic Model – high income, inclusiveness and sustainable,” he concluded.

Here is the link.