KUCHING, Sept 18 — A Bill will be tabled during the next State Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting in November to set up the sovereign wealth fund, said Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg.

The Premier of Sarawak said the new Bill was among the many initiatives that the state government had embarked on to safeguard the fortune of the future generations in the state.

"I want to set up a sovereign wealth fund because I believe in the strength of the state’s economy and our revenue generation potential in the future, supported by prudent economic policies and sound financial management for the future generations.

"Also, I hope that one day we can provide free tertiary education to all Sarawakians. This is the dream,” he said this in speech when officiating the closing ceremony of Land and Survey Department’s Innovation and Integrity Day 2022 at a local hotel last night.

He added that the recent government’s initiative to provide bursary to students pursuing courses at University of Technology Sarawak (UTS) had witnessed an uptick in students enrolling into the university.

Abang Johari, in his speech, also stressed on the importance of team spirit among civil servants to effectively implement the government’s policies, including the recently enforced Strata Management Ordinance 2019.

He said the government had passed new laws during the previous DUN sittings, including amending the state Constitution to reflect the changing lifestyle of the people.

"We are also expecting that there will be a lot of inbound investments coming to the state in the future on the basis of our strength in rich natural resources and the government has been pursuing green energy due to the global climate change,” he added.

Abang Johari said the advancement of technology had enabled the electricity required to produce hydrogen energy to be lowered to about 38 kilowatt per hour and it could be furthered lowered.

The state government could also utilise the huge water bodies located in the water reservoirs located statewide to install floating solar panels and generate energy to meet the demands of the private sector, he added.

Abang Johari said among the other focuses of the state government were the surveying of land for residential and commercial purposes, native customary rights (NCR) land survey, the development of the agriculture sector and carbon trading.

Therefore, Abang Johari said the state needed more professional surveyors going forward as the state government was in the midst of transforming the economy to become a high-income state by 2030.

Meanwhile, the state Land and Survey Department director Datu Abdullah Julaihi said their department had been continuously innovating to improve on their work processes and service delivery.

"The purpose of us setting up the Innovative and Creative Groups (KIK) is to inculcate the culture of innovating and creativity at the department, and driving improvement at all aspects to deliver quality and agile services in meeting the needs of our customers, stakeholders and the industry,” he added.

As an ‘Agency to Facilitate Development’, Abdullah said 13 of their KIK teams had made it to the final rounds of the Sarawak Civil Service Innovation Convention Award (SCSICA) 2022 with their projects.

Another two of their KIK teams will also be representing the state and the country at the International Convention on Quality Control Circles 2022 (ICQCC) at Jakarta, Indonesia in November.

Based on the World Bank-Ease of Doing Business Report 2020, Abdullah said Kuching Land and Survey Department, powered by the Land and Survey Information System (Lasis), was named among the best in the country for excellent services and their ranking was only slightly behind the regional best of Singapore.

During the ceremony, a Memorandum of Agreement was signed between the department and Percetakan Nasional Malaysia Berhad to supply and print the land titles and license documents; a Memorandum of Understanding between the department and Universiti Teknologi Mara to organise diploma courses in urban planning; and Memorandum of Cooperation between the department, Centre of Technical Excellence (Centexs), Land Surveyors Board Sarawak and the Association of Consulting Licensed Land Surveyors Sarawak to organise land surveying certification programmes.

A Guide Book for Strata Scheme produced by the department was also launched by Abang Johari.

Among those in attendance at the closing ceremony was Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, State Secretary Datuk Sri Mohamad Abu Bakar Marzuki and Deputy Minister in the Sarawak Premier Department (Integrity and Ombudsman) Datuk Juanda Jaya. — Borneo Post