Platform for collaboration between IDS, Suria Capital
KOTA KINABALU: Suria Capital Holdings Berhad and Sabah Ports Sdn Bhd led by Suria Capital Managing Director Datuk Ng Kiat Min paid a courtesy call to the Institute for Development Studies (Sabah) office at Wisma IDS on September 26.
The delegates were welcomed by IDS chairperson Datuk Adeline Leong and IDS CEO Ts Dr Ramzah Dambul.
According to Ng, the visit was to build a relationship with the Institute for future collaboration on the development of the State’s infrastructure and move towards sustainable and green practices within the logistics industry.
“As the world is moving towards greener practices, we have also successfully adopted several policies to be in line with the global trends in reducing environmental impact within our business practices such as adoption of renewable energy generation, electrification of cargo handling equipment and replacements of high mast lighting with energy-saving LEDs, just to name a few,” she further elaborated, adding that their efforts are also cost efficient to the organisation and should be adopted to wider range of industries in Sabah.
Adeline applauded their achievements, stressing that the logistics industry is one of the biggest contributors to the economy that has managed to expand its services despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The development and upgrades of Sabah Ports facilities is crucial for Sabah, especially in preparation of Indonesia’s capital move to Kalimantan in the near future.
“The State has to start upgrading its infrastructure in anticipation of the rapid economic growth brought by our neighbouring country in order to capitalise on the abundance of spillover opportunities coming to Sabah,” she explained.
Both IDS and Suria Group agreed that further in-depth discussion is necessary to create a platform to collaborate in developing Sabah’s role in maximising its geographical advantage to benefit both the state and its people.
Dr Ramzah said the institute will mobilise its research capacity to look into the matter more for a seamless planning and execution of Sabah’s infrastructure developments.
Also present during the discussion was Soh Wan Ru, Head of Group Corporate Planning & Development from Suria Capital Holdings Berhad.
From Sabah Ports were Siti Noraishah Azizan, General Manager (Corporate Services), Lai Fui Nar, General Manager (Technical & Process Improvement), and Dahlia Ismail, Senior Manager (Legal). Present from IDS were Richard T. Koh, Chief Research Officer, Hjh Hasnah Samsudin, Chief Operation Officer, and Azaharuddin Hassanuddin, Chief Strategic Officer.