Chief Minister Datuk Hajiji Noor at the Sabah Maju Jaya Roadmap first year celebration at the Sabah International Convention Centre, March 29, 2022. — Bernama pic
KOTA KINABALU, March 29 — The Sabah government wants the federal government to reconsider its decision to shelve construction of the Immigration, Customs and Quarantine (CIQ) Complex in Serudong, Kalabakan.
Chief Minister Datuk Hajiji Noor said the CIQ was a very important project for Sabah as it would serve as a gateway between Sabah and Nusantara in East Kalimantan, which would be the new capital of Indonesia.
“We will discuss with the federal government because for us this CIQ is a very important project and cannot be delayed. This project is very necessary for Sabah for visitors to enter Sabah or to Tawau,” he added.
He told this to reporters after attending the Sabah Maju Jaya Roadmap (SMJ) first year celebration at the Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC) here today.
Hajiji said the project should be a priority for the federal government so that the entry of visitors to Sabah from Kalimantan could be controlled as well as to avoid the existence of “rat lanes”.
Last Sunday (March 27), Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin was reported to have said that the decision to delay the construction of the RM600 million CIQS complex in Serudong would hurt Sabah’s economy with the development of Nusantara in Kalimantan Timur as Indonesia’s new capital.
This followed a written reply by Senior Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof to a question by Ma’mun Sulaiman (Warisan-Kalabakan) in Parliament last Wednesday (March 23) that the Kalabakan CIQS was delayed following a lack of allocation by the Finance Ministry.
Meanwhile, in his speech at the event, Hajiji said the state government was also in the final stage of concluding negotiations with the federal government on the review of the special grants to Sabah under Article 112D of the Federal Constitution.
He said the state government was also targeting an increase in state revenue with the exploration of new resources, investment initiatives and various other economic activities through payments of taxes, land premiums and royalties.
“For 2021, the state government has received a total of RM112.2 million in dividends from statutory bodies and government -linked companies (GLCs), which is an increase of 12.9 per cent compared to 2020,” he said.
At the event, several agreements were signed including for the implementation of the Sabah’s good governance practices and regulations and the State Education Savings Assistance (Bistari) through the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN).
There were also signing of several agreements between companies and the state government, including the Sublease Agreement with Petroventure Energy (PESB) involving a petroleum storage and refining plant, involving an investment of RM6 billion, and a Memorandum of Understanding on Sisma Energy involving long-term natural gas supply with investment of RM5 billion. — Bernama