KUCHING, May 26: Sarawak has attracted more foreign investments following the state’s drive to champion the production of hydrogen as a cleaner form of energy.
According to Deputy Premier, Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, the Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) is currently partnering with foreign investors on hydrogen related industry.
“The first collaboration is with a consortium of companies from South Korea with a proposed investment of USD 3 billion while another a group of Japanese investors with proposed investment of USD400 million,” said Tengah in his winding up speech during the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting.
Currently both of the aforementioned countries are mass producing Hydrogen-based vehicles, reflecting their interest in Sarawak’s hydrogen-based energy.
Aside from Sarawak’s hydrogen energy, the state has received a total of USD25.65 billion of potential international investment in other fields.
Several big potential investment includes that of Shell Sarawak and Thailand’s PTT Exploration, involving a proposed investment USD10 billion; metal project with Singapore with USD7.13 billion of proposed investment; integrated oil refinery project from China worth USD5.2 billion and the green energy project from Australia with proposed investment USD1.2 billion.
On previous year investments, Tengah disclosed that Sarawak was able to weather the various impediments caused by the lockdowns and restrictions.
In 2021, high-tech industries in Sama Jaya recorded a total exports of RM7.02 billion compared to RM6.93 billion in 2020 while generating RM607 million in spin-offs to the local economy.
Meanwhile, the energy intensive industries in Samalaju generated RM4.6 billion in spin-offs to the local economy with a total exports of RM13.9 billion in 2021 , a major increase from RM9.4 billion in 2020. – TVS
