Sarawak set to develop aluminium complex in Bintulu

MIRI - Sarawak has attracted the highest level of foreign direct investment (FDI) over the past year for its aluminium complex worth RM12 billion in Bintulu division, said Datuk Jacob Sagan, deputy International Trade and Industry Minister. "The group comprising of the Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto and some Chinese businessmen are so far the biggest investors in Sarawak so far this year," he said at a dinner, which he hosted to the media here. The aluminium smelter plants will source its energy needs from Bakun hydroelectric dam. Another proposal for quite a substantial investment amount, he said, involves a solar cell manufacturing production complex also in Similanjau, Bintulu division. The production of components for solar panel energy, he said, is for the export market using a very high technology, which depends on high-energy supply capacity within the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE). Sagan, who is also the Member of Parliament for Baram, said his ministry has stepped up the promotion overseas and introduced schemes and incentives to lure more foreign investors to Malaysia, especially Sarawak to develop its energy-intensive industry.