‘Initiative to help small Bumi firms in Sabah and Sarawak’
KUALA LUMPUR: The Carve-out and Compete Initiative is aimed at helping small Bumiputera contractors in Sabah and Sarawak to participate in the Pan-Borneo Highway project. It allocates RM500 million financial facility, said Bumiputera Agenda Steering Unit (Teraju) chief executive officer Datuk Husni Salleh.
“Larger contractors are able to find financing. We cater to contractors that have bagged smaller packages under this mega project.
“The Pan-Borneo project is a game changer for Sabah and Sarawak, and many contractors there haven’t had relatively large contracts on their own.
“If it is RM20 million or RM30 million worth of contracts, it’s considered big for them, thus this initiative will be good to roll out capital to help the contractors there,” he said on the sidelines of Teraju’s Bumiputera Entrepreneurs Startup Scheme (Superb) Series II event on Saturday.
Last year, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced that contracts worth RM8 billion would be awarded to Bumiputera companies, including Class F contractors, for the Pan-Borneo Highway project in Sarawak.
Meanwhile, under the Superb Series II, 10 winners from 20 finalists brought home RM500,000 each, which would be disbursed in stages based on their business progress.
The Superb Series, conducted twice a year, aimed at supporting creative and innovative business ideas, had received about 800 applications for the second edition.
To date, Superb has groomed 137 entrepreneurs, which have received grants totalling RM68.5 million. Bernama