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LAHAD DATU: Sabah still needs the Federal Government’s support to attract foreign direct investments and spur its economic growth, said POIC Sabah Chief Executive Officer Datuk Fredian Gan.“The Federal government funded our container port development years earlier, and it is good to have the endorsement of the current administration,” He said this in a statement, Wednesday, in response to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Sabah and Sarawak Affairs) Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili who recently endorsed the Lahad Datu POIC during his visit there recently. Dr Maximus visited the Lahad Datu POIC as part of his working visit to Sabah. He was in Tawau earlier.

Fredian said Dr Maximus was the first Federal cabinet member to visit POIC Lahad Datu since former Prime Minister Najib Razak visited in 2012 and later approved more than RM400 million grant for the development of the POIC Container Terminal.

“Sabah continues to need Federal support to draw foreign direct investments to grow our Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“In that context we look forward to welcoming more visits by members of the Federal cabinet,” said Fredian. In a briefing-cum-dialogue at the POIC Container Terminal with POIC Sabah and Lahad Datu district officials, Dr Maximus said the potential of POIC Lahad Datu’s deep-water harbour was first acknowledged decades earlier.

He commended POIC Sabah’s endeavors to realise its potential as the region’s transhipment, marine and logistics hub.

Dr Maximus hailed the various initiatives for POIC Sabah to develop Sabah’s east coast as a new economic growth area for the State, but also as a catalyst for the wider East Asean Growth Area comprising territories in Indonesia, Malaysia, Southern Philippines and Negara Brunei Darussalam.

The POIC initiatives include the development of a 1000-acre Free Zone, a new international airport, a maritime academy and a maritime transportation hub.

Dr Maximus also acknowledged the call for more balanced federal allocations, especially with Lahad Datu’s contribution of RM300 million in oil palm sales tax, yet its share of development funds not measuring up.