Three factors make Sabah uncompetitive –Tangau
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah must be creative in driving its industries if it wants to catch up with the rest of the country.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Madius Tangau said Sabah is still dependent on her conventional industries as the driver of its economy, while the rest of the country are already talking about the fourth industrial revolution.
He said the state government is working hard to bring investments into Sabah.
However, there are several factors that make the state unattractive, the three major ones being the issue of logistics, water and electricity supply.
He said that, unlike Sarawak, which is able to sell its electricity at nine sen per kilowatt, Sabah is selling her electricity at 40 sen per kilowatt, and receives a government subsidy of six sen so that it can sell at 34 sen per kilowatt to its clients.
“We are not competitive,” he said at the framework brainstorming session on the ‘Conserve Sabah Blueprint’ held at the Hyatt Kinabalu Hotel yesterday.
And with regard to the issue of logistics, Madius said that, although the Federal government has decided to exempt Sabah from the Cabotage policy two years ago, the state’s shipping industry remained bearish.
“Main-Line operators (MLO) are still not coming here,” he said.
Madius, who is also Minister of Trade and Industry, said Sabah’s contribution to the gross domestic product per capita has dipped from eight percent in 2015 to 7.2 percent last year.
He added that it is important for the state to get the figures up.
Meanwhile, SEDCO chairman Datuk Dr. Richard Gunting stressed that Sabah must close the gap with the rest of the country.
He said that in order to do this, Sabah cannot follow conventional planning but instead, it needs to embark on something that is out of the box.
He explained that the ‘Conserve Sabah Blueprint’ targets the development of a beautiful Sabah and will also look into ways to monetize its nature capital.
He said this was because Sabah’s comparative advantage is her forests and diversity.
He also briefly mentioned about carbon trade and said that there is substantial value in it, citing also that Sabah will lose this in years to come if the state failed to place value on her carbon.