BN Stunning Election Score in Sarawak – PM launching RM 334bln SCORE (Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy); RM5 Bln Allocation & 13 MOUs signed

BN Stunning pre Election SCORE in Sarawak – PM launching RM 334bln (Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy); RM5 Bln Allocation & 13 MOUs signed

It was an unfair pre-election score for BN and it was indeed a “a government ploy to shore up flagging public support” especially in Sarawak weeks before the general elections. This is confirmed when the Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud declared:

“When we are facing elections, I would like remind all the people of Sarawak that we have a good Prime Minister, with a good government, with a strong government that is likely to be able to maintain 2/3 majority and to decide on difficult questions”

RM 300 billion is a huge amount right up to 2030 and this big development plan will help generate strong economic growth and revenues that will keep the Taib families, associates & all the cronies well taken care of for generations to come.
The recent rise in oil prices has suddenly brought the 2,400-megawatt Bakun into focus. With its cheap tariff rates, another smelter is being planned

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RM5 Billion Government Allocation To Kick Off SCORE In Sarawak

BINTULU, Feb 11 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Monday announced a RM5 billion allocation for high impact projects that have been identified under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP) for the development of the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE).

The corridor will be developed in the central region of the state, encompassing 70,700 sq km in the Bintulu, Kapit, Sibu, Mukah and Sarikei divisions, making up 57 percent of Sarawak's land mass and the largest of the corridor developments in the country. "So far, the central region's potential had not been developed due, among others, to its scarce population. With development coming in now, there will be huge economic and social impact," he said when launching SCORE at the Bintulu Promenade here.

"The spillover benefits from the region's development will be seen in other parts of Sarawak as well." At the event, the Prime Minister witnessed the signing of 13 memorandums of understanding (MOUs) between the Sarawak government and companies which will participate in the corridor's development. Among them was a pact involving the state government, Sarawak Energy Bhd, Cahaya Mata Sarawak Bhd and Rio Tinto Aluminium Ltd for the supply of energy of between 900mw and 1,200mw for an aluminium smelter in Similajau with an investment value of RM5.25 billion.

According to the SCORE masterplan, the Sarawak Corridor should see investments amounting to RM334 billion, with the federal government accounting for 15 percent of it, from now until 2030.

Abdullah said that to catalyse this development, three growth centres have been identified - Tanjung Manis, Similajau and Mukah.

Tanjung Manis, a port whose hinterland is resource-rich, will become a manufacturing and small industries centre, and he said: "By 2030 we hope it will become an important regional port city." Similajau will be an industrial city underpinning a new industrial centre, housing heavy industries such as oil & gas, aluminium, steel and silica, with a deepwater port also to be built there. Mukah will be an education hub and "Smart City," drawing not only academic and research institutions but also skills training centres.

"As high as the hornbill soars, just as high are the hopes of the Sarawak people on the success of this Corridor, and they are ready to accept development to improve their quality of life," he said.
The Prime Minister said that with the full implementation of the Score masterplan by 2030, Sarawak will see its gross domestic product (GDP) growing five-fold - from RM23 billion now to RM118 billion, with annual GDP growth pace lifting to seven percent from the current five percent. In this period, 1.6 million high-value job opportunities will be created throughout Sarawak, about half of them in industries emerging in SCORE, he added.

By 2010, according to Abdullah, hardcore poverty in Sarawak will be wiped out while poverty will eclipse to less than one percent by 2030 from 7.5 percent of the population now. Abdullah said he has directed that a "green development framework" study be undertaken to ensure that SCORE's development is environmentally friendly.

"This is to ensure that our energy resources will be developed in a sustainable and environmentally sound manner," he stressed. Energy resources, especially hydro power of 20,000mw, coal deposits of 1.46 billiion metric tonnes and natural gas deposits of 40.9 trillion cu ft, are readily available in the SCORE region.

Recoda, the Regional Corridor Development Authority, has been set up as a one-stop agency to facilitate all investment activities in SCORE as well as drive the development of the central region and the whole state towards fully developed status by 2020. This is the fifth development corridor that Abdullah has launched to ensure balanced development throughout the country. The others are the Iskandar Development Region in the southern tip of the peninsula, the Northern Corridor Economic Region, the East Coast Economic Region and the Sabah Development Corridor.
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M'sia trumpets US$103b investments as polls loom

February 11, 2008, 2.27 pm (Singapore time)

BINTULU - Malaysia announced on Monday a US$103.4 billion plan to develop its eastern Sarawak state, a move some critics saw as a government ploy to shore up flagging public support ahead of expected snap polls. The blueprint, which sees RM334 billion in investments until 2030, aims to transform the sprawling timber- and energy-rich state on Borneo island into an oil and gas, aluminium, marine engineering and fisheries hub. 'Our estimate is that by 2030, the investments are not going to be less than RM300 billion,' Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told a crowd of about 5,000 people under a tent at the launch of the plan in Sarawak's coastal town of Bintulu.

ABOVE & BELOW: the 2400MW Bakun Dam on stream 2010

'This is going to be a huge amount. But this is a big development plan. This will help generate strong economic growth for Sarawak, God willing.' He said most of the investments would come from the private sector but did not give any details. Mining and metals group Rio Tinto, British zinc miner ZincOx Resources and Malaysian firm Cahya Mata Sarawak are among the investors under the plan called Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy. Sarawak is Malaysia's largest state and also one of the country's poorest areas. The Sarawak blueprint - which covers the central part of the state - is the latest in a series of government-led plans totalling about US$325 billion to create farming, energy and tourism hubs in various parts of the country.-- Reuters

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M'sia launches last billion-dollar project ahead of polls

Feb 11, 2008

Mr Abdullah said the government would spend an initial five billion ringgit (S$2.2 billion) to kickstart the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy, the last of five programmes that form a long term economic blueprint.

KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIAN prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Monday launched a major development project worth billions of dollars to fuel growth in resource-rich Sarawak on Borneo Island. He said the government would spend an initial five billion ringgit (S$2.2 billion) to kickstart the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy, the last of five programmes that form a long term economic blueprint. The announcement came ahead of elections expected in March and would focus on developing the state's energy sources, hydropower, coal, natural gas and petroleum. 'The development, distribution and consumption of energy is a core element leading to the success of the Sarawak Corridor,' Mr Abdullah said at the launch.
He said the project aims to bring economic growth and eradicate poverty in the predominantly rural state of Sarawak by 2030. It will provide about 800,000 jobs over 23 years with private investment targeted at 300 billion ringgit. 'It's not going to be less than 300 billion (ringgit). It's a huge amount but it involves large developments in various fields ... in Sarawak, which is a very large (state),' he said.
The area earmarked for development is a 320-kilometre stretch along the coast facing the South China Sea from Tanjung Manis to Similajau and covers an area of 70,708 square kilometres - 57 per cent of the entire state. The government is gearing up for elections expected in March and has launched another four big-budget masterplans worth billions of dollars to attract foreign investment and develop rural states over the next two decades. -- AFP