Government Efforts Developing Economy Puts Where Sarawak Is Today - Adenan

Economic development is fundamental to the prosperity of any country and all these years, the Government has put a lot of efforts to develop our economy to be where we are today.

Chief Minister Datuk Tan Sri Haji Adenan Satem said that, as for Sarawak, our economy has developed and expanded which had resulted a strong economy and is the third largest in the country after Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.

"The journey that we have taken over the years has resulted in our economy having good credit rating that remains positive with stable outlook from credible rating agencies."

Adenan said that, Sarawak government had worked hard to transform our economy from agriculture based to an economy which is based on manufacturing and services.

"This is clearly reflected whereby in 2014, the manufacturing and services sectors had contributed significantly at 64.0% to the State economy and these achievements were made possible due tour far sighted development philosophy, policiesand development plans that we have formulated and implemented all these years."

"We are determined to do more in order to accelerate our economic growth and development to benefit the rakyat and the best option for us therefore is to formulate our development strategy that will broaden our economic base by introducing more high value added activities in all sectors of our economy."

He said that, industrialisation is the way forward for Sarawak and in this context, we will attract more high tech industries to invest in the State. Meanwhile, for existing industries,there is also a need for these industriesto deepen their industrial base by moving up the value chain thus creating more value added activities.

"The government primary objective in developing our economy is to ensure that we will continue to create enough business and employment opportunities to the rakyat," he said adding that, industrialisation of the State and the creation of more value added activities in all sectors of our economy will therefore help us to achieve this objective.

He said this in winding-up speech during the State Legislative Assembly Sitting at Petra Jaya, Kuching here today.

On rural economy, Adenan said that, a good and conducive business climate and investment environment is paramount for the private sector to decide on their choice of investment location.

"Therefore, it is only logical that when we first started to industrialise, most of the industrial activities wereconcentrated in the urban areas with better infrastructure and facilitiesneeded by the industries, we would like to see these industries and businesses to develop and expandto benefit the State."

"We will continue to develop more industrial infrastructure in the urban and sub urban areasto support greater industrial development in the future," he said adding that, while industrialisation is working well in the urban areas, we need to adopt different strategies to develop the rural economy as these areas are still lacking behind in basic infrastructure that are the prerequisites for business activities.

He said that, the right strategies need to be put in place to tap the huge economic potentials in the rural areas and among the huge potentials in the rural areas yet to be fully tapped are in the fields of agriculture, eco-tourism, forest plantation and

"To unlock these potentials, the State Government has completed a Socio-Economic Master Plan thatwill chart out the development strategies and action plans to be undertaken commencing the 11th Malaysia Plan."

For this Master Plan, Adenan said that, several growth nodes have been identified as the focus areas with the government providing the necessary enablers and the private sector to invest as the engine of growth.

"Despite the challenges, the government is adamantin developing our rural economy as a large portion of our population are residing in the rural areas and the rural folks also deserve a good quality of life comparable to the urban areas."

He pointed out that, a well organised rural economy is important to support the development of Sarawak and in the medium term, the rural areas will be the primary producers of agriculture produce, livestock, aquaculture and many food items to meet our domestic market.

"In the long run, we believe that large scale production through better farm mechanisation, application of modern technology, improvement in the productivity of farmers and wider marketing network will enableour rural economy to be transformedas a major agriculture producer in this region to meet global demand."

"Rural communities are expected to benefit from a transformed rural economy however, it is important for them to become active participants," he said adding that, in this respect, they must get themselves organised and be equipped with the right knowledge and skills to become successful entrepreneurs especially in the areas of eco-tourism, homestay and agriculture.

At the same time, said Adenan, through more business and jobs creations by the private sector in the rural areas, we should be able to see further reduction in the incidence of poverty in the State and this initiative will also address the issue of rural-urban migration in the future.

"We have seen the success of integratingthe rural and urban economies in developed countries and we would like to see similar success to happen in Sarawak and a well-developed rural economy will also help to address the socio-economic imbalances between these areas," he said adding that, in doing so, all rakyat irrespective of rural or urban areas,will be able to enjoy better income and higher quality of life. - Sarawakiana