Added assurance for investors visiting Lahad Datu
LAHAD DATU: Foreigners, especially tourists proceeding to the nearby Danum Valley and Tabin Wildlife Sanctuary attractions, fly here daily but it was the first for Japanese businessman Takahiko Sato.
The president and chief executive officer of Takafuji Co Ltd of Japan set foot here yesterday after years of partnership in Blossom Bio Energy Sdn Bhd which buys palm kernel shells (PKS) for export to Japan.
PKS is a residue product of the oil palm industry. It is widely sought as a burning fuel due to its high calorific value. It is used for the production of electricity.
Although there has been no official travel advisory, Japanese nationals generally avoided traveling there due to some border incidents in eastern Sabah, particularly the intrusion by Sulu rebels in 2013.
“We have been business partners for many years, and it is good to have him in Lahad Datu finally to see for himself the place where our supplies (of PKS) are sourced,” said Jeffrey Lu of Blossom Bio Energy when met at the Lahad Datu palm oil industrial cluster (POIC Lahad Datu) here.
Blossom Bio Energy is based at the government-owned industrial park. Lu was accompanying Sato and other company officials in a visit to POIC Lahad Datu where they were briefed by port operations manager, Chee Sai Kee.
Also present were officials of the Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCom), a security apparatus set up following the 2013 intrusion.
Chee, who oversees an integrated, multipurpose port infrastructure at POIC Lahad Datu, lives in Lahad Datu, and said its port operations had been unhindered and growing steadily in the last five years.
POIC Lahad Datu, which began in 2005, has a container terminal, a dry bulk terminal and an oil terminal, with the latter two having begun operations in 2013.
An ESSCom spokesman responded positively to a suggestion that some form of communication channel be established with security personnel as an added assurance whenever investors visit Lahad Datu.
He assured the briefing that the recent abduction of two Indonesian fishermen was a minor glitch in the uncompromising security measures, which included curfew along the ESSCom territory.
The two fishermen have since been released.