LD POIC a new game changer and enabler
Published on: Monday, March 16, 2020
By: Sherell Jeffrey
Lahad Datu POIC has the best port.
Kota Kinabalu: Lahad Datu Palm Oil Industry Cluster (POIC Lahad Datu) is a new game changer and an enabler to open new trade opportunities for the region with the completion of its port facilities.It is no longer just an industrial park to serve the State but an opportunity for regional trade, regional logistics and regional break bulking and consolidation activities to take place.
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“What POIC Lahad Datu has today is complete, the jigsaw puzzle is complete, and we have got the government support, land, utilities and services to be able to service the industrial needs of investors,” said POIC Lahad Datu Deputy CEO Lynette J Hoo.
Hoo said this in her talk during the World Islamic Economic Forum’s Fourth Session, titled “Sabah Focus – Investment Opportunities in Sabah”, at the Magellan Sutera, here, recently.
Set up in 2005, the wholly State Government-owned POIC Lahad Datu covering an area of 4,400 acres has been gazetted for industrial investments.
Its main function is to act as a catalyst in spearheading the eight industrialisation agendas by providing basic and specialised infrastructure to lower the cost of doing business. The aim is essentially to create jobs and to spin the economy.
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To date, of the 4,400 acres, 1,150 acres are completed with infrastructures ranging from dry bulk jetty and liquid bulk jetty to serve Phase 1 and Phase 2, which is essentially geared for oil-based industries as well as fertiliser-based industries.
She said in Phase 3, which is the bulk of the land area, is where there are about 3,000 acres available and about 500 acres are currently ready with infrastructure for investment.
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“That area is located approximately a kilometre from the newly-opened container terminal which has a capacity of 50,000 TEUs per annum with the potential of catering to up to 250,000 TEUs per annum,” she said.
She said basic infrastructure is all in place and one of the key benefits about POIC Lahad Datu is the natural 20-metre draft, one of the deepest in the region, and aside from that, an integrated set of port facilities, which include a dry bulk, a barge berth, a liquid bulk terminal as well as a container terminal making this one of the most integrated port facilities in the region
“The fact that it is 20 metres deep means a lot in terms of lowering the cost of doing business, because this enables large vessels, ultra large cargo carriers, to be able to call at the port and to consolidate cargo goods and services.
“The larger the ships the lower the cost because of the economies of scale, and this is what the State Government is trying to do, to lower the cost of investment, to lower the cost of doing business in Sabah by providing the requisite infrastructure,” she said.
She said aside from the integrated port infrastructure, POIC Lahad Datu is also host to the world’s largest integrated bio refinery complex and host to the largest fertiliser cluster in Malaysia with a combined capacity of 1.3 million metric tonnes.
“There are currently a number of major investors participating not just in the fertiliser sector but also in refinery and biomass downstream-related and logistics activities,” she said.
POIC Lahad Datu is also ideal for logistics trading and industrial investments with its location at the heart of the regional shipping lane (Lombok-Makassar shipping lane).
“Not only that, but within the region, there are many ports serving southern Philippines and Indonesia, but most of these ports do not have integrated facilities similar to what is being offered in POIC Lahad Datu,” she said.
She said this makes it ideal for POIC Lahad Datu to be staged as a consolidation and a break bulking hub for the region and providing trading opportunities for various products, including agriculture products, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture, livestock, mineral products and oil and gas.
Not forgetting the halal sector as well as POIC Lahad Datu obtained Halmas status which is a world recognised certification and the halal market is tremendous, opportunities are available for production as well as halal services
She said with the growth major companies coming in, opportunities would be made available for small medium industries as well, in manufacturing services as well as other sectors.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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