Business

Saturday June 13, 2009

Sarawak aims to lead in hydropower energy


KUALA LUMPUR: Sarawak hopes to become a major hydropower player in the region when the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) is fully developed by 2030.

State planning unit advisor Chang Ngee Hui said SCORE aimed to get RM334bil worth of investment by 2030 from the private sector, government-linked companies and foreign investors.

“Sarawak has abundant natural resources that can be utilised as renewable energy and at this moment, we are focusing on hydropower projects such as in Bakun and Baram.

“However, we will assist any party that wants to explore other types of renewable energy such as solar, wind or natural gas,” he said yesterday at the seminar on business opportunities at SCORE.

SCORE is located in central Sarawak and stretches 320km along the coast from Tanjung Manis to Samalaju, and extends into the surrounding areas and the hinterland.

Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud had said 24 projects with a proposed investment total of RM80bil had been approved by the Regional Economic Development Authority (RECODA) to be implemented in the next five years.

Taib, who is also state Finance Minister, also said the projects would generate more than 20,000 jobs, not including those created in the construction of basic infrastructure and factories.

“The biggest projects approved are an aluminium smelter plant in Mukah and a polysilicon manufacturing plant within SCORE. The others are at various stages,” he said.

Taib also said RECODA had spent about RM1bil in providing the basic infrastructure in SCORE since its formation.

Recoda spearheads SCORE’s development, management and promotions, and serves as a one-stop agency to facilitate all investment activities in SCORE.

Meanwhile, the new Borneo Convention Centre in Kuching is scheduled to open by October and will in November host the International Energy Week 2009, themed Energising sustainable future-business opportunities in SCORE.

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