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DEEP in the rainforests of Borneo beside the Segama River lies the only limestone and marble quarry in Sabah. 

Developed in the early 1990s and owned by Sabahans, Makin Teguh Sdn Bhd (MTSB) and its group of companies started to operate and produce limestone and marble under the brand of “Borneo Marble” since 1992. 

The Borneo Marble quarries produce a unique type of marble with exotic colouring ranging from a porcelain creamy white known as Borneo Beige, to an enchanting bluish grey aptly named “Segama Blue” and a deep rich red marble called “Rosso Segama”.  

Marble blocks being cut to size at the quarry in Lahad Datu.

Places such as Putrajaya, the Palace of Justice and even Trump Tower in New York feature Borneo Marble in their design. The former US President apparently fell in love with the red marble as the right shade to grace the foyer of his iconic building. 

Despite the alluring beauty of Borneo Marble, the nature of the marble business is such that only 30 per cent of production is selected for polishing, and the rest becomes waste material.

In the early days, MTSB would use the waste material for the manufacture of tiles as well as road construction. 

MTSB, in fact, developed most of the infrastructure leading to the quarries using ancient Roman road building technology. The crushed limestone mixed with aggregates from nearby stone quarries when compacted and mixed with water over time creates a hardened road base.

The availability of a huge stockpile of cement grade limestone waste accumulated from 30 years of marble quarrying operations and reports of cement shortage in 2007 prompted MTSB to consider expanding their business downstream by applying for a cement manufacturing license, which was granted to MTSB in 2011. 

After doing detailed feasibility studies and considering the various infrastructure challenges, it was only in 2017 that work on the site began. 

MTSB’s Lahad Datu Integrated Clinker and Cement Manufacturing Plant is designed using the latest Chinese technology with great emphasis on environmental protection and efficient energy use. 

It is the First Integrated Cement Plant in Malaysia which uses renewable fuels such a Heavy Fuel Oil derived from refined recovered oils, palm kernel shells and bio char. 

The plant also employs a heat recovery system that is able to generate part of its energy requirements and recycles all of its water which relies heavily on rain water collection that is stored and treated internally. 

Borneo marbel was used by Trump for his foyer after he fell in love with it (left pic).

Ambrose inspecting the site with his team. (Pic: Jimmy Goh) 

The plant is part of an integrated limestone Processing Complex (ILPP) which aims to create an economic value chain using natural resources to produce a range of limestone derived products such as crushed limestone powder, aggregates, hydrated lime, clinker, cement, concrete and other related products for local use as well as export.

The ILPP will employ up to 250 Malaysians on site and train Malaysians, especially Sabahans, in all aspects of the limestone and cement manufacturing business. 

Construction of the plant was carefully planned so as to avoid disruption to the natural terrain of the site and at the same time, developing the infrastructure such as roads and electricity supply at its own cost for the mutual benefit of all the local villages and nearby plantations. 

Borneo Oil Berhad (BOB) owns limestone quarries adjacent to the ILPP and due to the strong synergy between the parties, BOB had recently acquired up to 29.3 per cent equity interest in MTSB.

This alliance will enable the parties to leverage on each other’s strength in order to position the group towards future expansion. This alliance will enable BOB to expand its quarrying operations downstream to boost the group’s overall profitability.

The outlook for Sabah’s cement industry is highly favourable given the high cement prices in Sabah compared with the rest of Malaysia and ILPP’s proximity to the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA). 

Currently, there are 12 integrated clinker and cement plants in Malaysia of which 11 are in Peninsula and one in Sarawak. The ILPP will be the First Integrated Cement Plant is Sabah with an annual capacity of 230,000 MT/annum and is able to cater to demand for cement in the East Coast of Sabah which is estimated at 300,000 MT/annum. 

Sabah has an annual demand of between 1.2 million to 1.4 million metric tons of cement. These numbers do not include the future development projects planned on the East Coast of Sabah, and the demand in the BIMP-EAGA region with a population of 23 million at close proximity to the East Coast of Sabah. 

This potential is further enhanced by the recent declaration of the POIC port by the Sabah Government which is game changer for the eastern part of Sabah given its well equipped and comprehensive facilities and strategic location along the Lombok-Makassar route.

The recent Covid-19 pandemic and unprecedented series of global events have once again highlighted that Sabah must steer itself towards self-sufficiency in all critical sectors, cement production being one of them.  Cement is the back bone of the construction and development industry. 

As such, the local manufacture of clinker and cement using mainly local resources would reduce exposure to international currency fluctuations and reliance of foreign imports.  

Recently, MTSB and BOB celebrated a momentous occasion by hosting a ‘Kiln Firing Up Ceremony” to mark the commencement of Sabah’s First Integrated Clinker and Cement Manufacturing Plant (“ILPP”) located in Lahad Datu.

The event was officiated by BOB Executive Director Datuk Joseph Ambrose Lee. 

Also present were Borneo Oil Berhad Executive Director Georgianne Lingam, Makin Teguh Sdn Bhd Directors Dato’ Awang Ahmad @ Awang Ariffin, Yong Yit Fui @ Steven, Dyidriyah Gapang, Makin Teguh Sdn Bhd General Manager cum Technical Advisor of ILPP cement plant Lei Shu Qing, and former Deputy Chief Minister cum Minister of Industrial Development Datuk Seri Raymond Tan Shu Kiah, among others.