Energy
The state of Sarawak has introduced the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE), a new development corridor launched on 11 February 2008. It is one of the five regional development corridors throughout Malaysia that aims to transform Sarawak into a developed state by 2020 by accelerating the state's economic growth, as well as improving the quality of life for the people of Sarawak.
Overseas interest is key to the development of SCORE with investment now totalling about $30 billion in the aluminium, the polysilicon, and minerals-based industries as well as agriculture including aquaculture and halal. In addition Chinese investors have recently pledged $11 billion and Arab investors $7 billion in the energy and aluminium clusters.
Focusing on five major growth nodes, Tanjung Manis, Samalaju, Mukah, Baram, and Tunoh, SCORE singles out 10 key industries for development. These include tourism, oil, aluminium, metals, glass, fishing, aquaculture, livestock, forestry, ship building and palm oil. Investors are being drawn to the region because it is rich in energy resources, with an energy potential of 28,000 MW, of which 20,000 MW are in hydropower, 5,000 MW in coal-fired plants, and the remaining 3,000 MW in other energy sources including biofuel. This allows Sarawak to price its energy competitively and encourage investments in power generation and energy-intensive industries that will stimulate strong industrial development in the corridor.
SCORE is developing a vast area that stretches 320 kilometres along Sarawak’s coast from Tanjung Manis to Samalaju and extends all the way into the extensive and remote hinterlands where two rural growth nodes, Baram and Tunoh, will also be developed. In order to connect urban centres across the central region with the rest of Sarawak, new roads will be created to provide more efficient transport of goods, access to resources and human capital.
Sarawak’s industrial sector is currently undergoing a transformation and the opportunities for investment are immense. Value-added industries are taking an increasingly dominant role in the development of the state and the days when Sarawak exported raw materials that were finished elsewhere are long over, with the new clusters set to put “Made in Sarawak” stamps on more goods and services in the years to come.
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