KOTA KINABALU, March 22 — The time has come for the Sabah state government to take bold steps to forge more cooperation with foreign investors in implementing development projects through private financing initiative (PFI) widely, said Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

He said Sabah had great potential in enabling its land and resources, and this could be evidenced by the confidence of local and foreign investors to invest in the state.

"The federal government will always give support and attention to development plans like this,” he said when officiating at the launch of the Lok Kawi Resort City Development at the Sabah International Convention Centre here today.

Also present were Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Hajiji Noor, the three deputy chief ministers Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin, Datuk Dr Joachim Gunsalam and Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan as well as Senior Minister and International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali.

Muhyiddin said that as a country whose economic growth was driven by exports, investor sentiment was important as a source of job creation, and in this regard, confidence in the Malaysian market remained strong, especially from foreign investors based on the RM18.3 billion investment in the bond market as at the end of December 2020.

Net foreign investment into Malaysia also remained positive from RM2.2 billion in the second quarter of 2020 to RM6.1 billion in the fourth quarter of the same year, he said.

"Among the factors supporting the confidence of foreign investors is the government’s active efforts to engage with existing investors to understand the needs of the industry during the implementation of movement control. Apart from that, efforts to attract additional and new investments are always in full swing,” he said.

Muhyiddin is also confident that the Sabah government under Hajiji’s leadership will continue to actively diversify the state’s development agenda, including through a new goal, namely Sabah Maju Jaya, a five-year development plan starting this year until 2025.

On the Lok Kawi Resort City Development, the project with an expected gross development value of RM7 billion is a joint venture between Yayasan Sabah and Tegas Bangsa Sdn Bhd, an affiliate of the Pavilion Group — a luxury residential and commercial developer in the peninsula, to be developed on 166.3 hectares in Lok Kawi, Putatan.

The development project is expected to be completed in about 15 years and includes theme parks, resort hotels, shopping complexes, commercial and office blocks as well as residentials which will provide more employment opportunities for the people in the state.

Muhyiddin said the project would provide long-term returns to Sabah, including opening up more room for investors, property buyers and domestic and foreign tourists.

"Currently, the Covid-19 pandemic is limiting the entry of tourists, but I am confident that with the full implementation of vaccination by the end of this year, Sabah, which is rich in tourist attractions, will return to actively receiving tourists, thus reviving the state’s economy,” he said.

Meanwhile, Muhyiddin said in his press conference that the close cooperation between the federal government and the Sabah government played an important role in bringing more development and high quality investments to the state.

He said in the current sluggish economic situation due to Covid-19, all efforts must be done jointly to ensure that the work to attract investment and development is implemented effectively.

"Competition for capital is quite fierce as the amount of capital available in the global market is limited. Only countries that are serious and have attractive incentives will succeed in attracting investors. Thus, the federal and state (government) coupling is important.

"If the federal level alone helps (but) the state does nothing, it will not succeed,” he said, adding that the investment initiative shown today is the best example of cooperation that can develop the state’s economic sector, especially in the manufacturing sector.

At the ceremony, Muhyiddin also witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding on foreign and domestic investment initiatives between the Sabah government and Linaco Group of Companies on the high-yield hybrid coconut palms cultivation project; as well as Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park Sdn Bhd and SK Nexilis Co Ltd, a company from South Korea, for the construction of a copper foil production plant. — Bernama