Master plan in works for Sipitang industrial park: Sabah DCM

KOTA KINABALU – The Sipitang Oil and Gas Industrial Park (Sogip) remains underdeveloped, but there will be a master plan for it, said Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Dr Joachim Gunsalam.

In response to the concerns raised by Datuk Yusof Yaacob (Sindumin-BN), Gunsalam however said Sabah Oil and Gas Development Corporation (SOGDC), the company in charge of Sogip, is now working on a development master plan for the industrial park. 

“I must admit at this point there is nothing (in Sogip). But the ministry is coming out with a master plan. We will have it in one or two months’ time,” he added.

Earlier, Yusof said Sogip is one of the programmes gazetted as one of Malaysia’s oil and gas hubs, but nothing was done after it was opened some years ago. 

He added that there are only a couple of companies at Sogip – the Sabah Ammonia Urea project and Petronas’ near-shore floating liquefied natural gas facility that will be opened soon. 

“Is SOGDC taking action? At this point, Sogip is nothing but a forested area. There is no water and electricity. If we bring investors or tourists to Sogip, the only thing we can show them is forests and mangroves.”

Gunsalam then defended SOGDC, saying it does its due diligence when entering agreements and the companies that signed on recently are established firms. 

He was referring to the 10 firms that had signed agreements with SOGDC with the investment value of RM19.8 billion.

Sogip is one of the economic entry points identified under the National Key Economic Areas introduced in 2011.

Meanwhile, the state has introduced a “Sabah first” policy whereby oil and gas companies are first required to source local skilled workers before hiring non-Sabahans. 

Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun (Karanaan-GRS) said that as early as 2021, non-local skilled workers have been required to apply for a work permit before they can work in the state. 

He said approval will not be given to them if such skills are readily available in the state.

“As early as last year, we (Sabah government) ensured that all non-local workers need to apply for a work permit. 

“In the oil and gas sector in the state, there are around 2,000 skilled Sabahans working in the oil rigs already. 

“Our policy is Sabah first. If an oil and gas company, including those from Sarawak, get a job from Petronas here in Sabah and their workers are non-Sabahan, they need to apply for work permits. 

“We will look in our database to see if there are already such skills in Sabah. If there is, we won’t issue any work permits and tell them to take a Sabahan instead,” he said during Question Time at the Sabah assembly today. 

Masidi was responding to Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal (Senallang-Warisan) who asked how locals can benefit from the billions of ringgit generated from the oil and gas sector in Sabah.

Sabah accounts for 37% of the oil and 17% gas reserves in Malaysia.

Masidi said that up until this point, the state policy has been received well by the oil and gas companies working in the state.

“They have been very cooperative. In time to come, we will raise the standards further to allow more Sabahans with the right skillset to be priority hires in this sector.”

He added that this policy is not meant to discourage investments in the state. – The Vibes, July 19, 2022