Phoong defends giving special power tariff to foreign investors

KOTA KINABALU (Sept 5): State Industrial Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Datuk Phoong Jin Zhe has defended his decision to provide special power tariff to select foreign investors.

Phoong explained that since SK Nexilis is a very high-tech company and the second largest conglomerate from South Korea, Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) last year had given them special incentive to invest in Sabah by offering stable and reliable power supply at an attractive rate.

He stressed that it is the first and last of such a move, and it is a pioneer or exemplary case of their efforts to tap into the high-tech industry.

In comparison, he said Sarawak offers much more attractive deals to potential investors such as cheaper prices and giving them free land for their developments, causing the state’s manufacturing sector to progress to being seven times bigger than Sabah’s, which he opined is due to their political stability.

Hence, the minister justified that Sabah needs to provide special incentives to potential investors so as not to lag behind its Bornean neighbour.

“Are we doing the wrong thing? No. We are grooming the industry, so we have all sorts of instruments to promote investment. Not only foreigners, but also local industry. So this is quite standard and normal in the business world.

“In the United States, for example, they have 50 states, each with their own strategy to take in investments, even through providing heavy subsidies.

“We need investments to not only create jobs but also to reverse brain drain by taking in these mega investors. At the moment, around 86 percent of workers at the SK Nexilis and Kibing Solar factories are Sabahans, so we should be proud of this achievement.

“And last year, Sabah’s manufacturing sector grew by 4.4 percent, which is the highest in Malaysia, even surpassing the national average growth of 0.8 percent. So we need to continue to grow this figure, and we are on a good momentum to achieve that,” he told reporters after officiating a luncheon cum dialogue organised by Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) Sabah at Hilton Hotel here on Thursday.

Also present was FMM Sabah chairman James Ha.