KOTA KINABALU, July 23 — Two more industrial parks will be constructed in Sabah to accommodate investors who want to invest in the state, said Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Hajiji Noor.

Speaking to reporters after launching the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) Women movement’s roadshow here on Sunday, Hajiji said one of the industrial parks would be located in Kimanis and the other between Kota Belud and Kota Marudu.

Hajiji said the existing industrial parks namely the Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park (KKIP) and the SOGIP Oil and Gas Industrial Park have almost reached their capacity, therefore the need to have more of such investment facilities in the state.

"To develop industries in Sabah and to provide opportunities for investment, we need to find new locations. The matter was brought up in the state cabinet meeting and it agreed to propose two areas, one in Kimanis and the other between Kota Belud and Kota Marudu.

"The one in between Kota Belud and Kota Marudu will be similar to KKIP while the one in Kimanis would be one for the oil and gas industry,” he said, adding that the state government is now in the process of making the necessary arrangements for the land.

In his speech earlier, Hajiji said the two new industrial parks would be developed in an area of between 15,000 acres to 20,000 acres respectively.

Meanwhile, when asked to comment on the federal Government’s agreement to return 55 lots of land that have been acquired from the Sabah and Sarawak governments in accordance with the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), Hajiji said that the state government will develop the land returned to it.

"If there is a need for the federal government to develop the land, we will give it to them but some are left idle for more than 10 years so we will take back and develop them,” he said.

Last week Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof told a press conference after chairing the Malaysia Agreement 1963 Technical Committee meeting that three lots of land and 52 would be returned to Sabah and Sarawak respectively.

He said the two state governments would pay back to the federal government the amount of compensation that was paid when it took over the land, adding that Sarawak had wanted a total of 219 lots of land to be returned, while Sabah five.

Without detailing the total area of the land lots, Fadillah said they had been identified as undeveloped for five years.

On the six state elections in Peninsular Malaysia, Hajiji who was asked if GRS would be assisting in the campaign trail there said, "Of course we want to go and help our friends there... the Unity Government.

We are now making plans to see which state we will be assisting in and will know in the next few days.” — Borneo Post