What is SCORE?

What’s good for business is good for the people

The Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) is one of five economic development corridors created by the Federal Government of Malaysia as part of its ambitious plan to stimulate investment-led growth in traditionally rural areas.

SCORE is the second largest of these corridors, taking in a land area of 70,000 square kilometers and a population of 600,000. It spans the central region of Sarawak, with a thousand-kilometre coastline, 8 million hectares of forest and 5 million hectares of arable and peat land suitable for agriculture.

SCORE’s ambitious development plans, stable political and fiscal environment and carefully-targeted federal and state incentives have consistently attracted large-scale investors from overseas.

In terms of natural resources, the region is a treasure house. Known oil reserves are at least 1.2 billion barrels and there are large deposits of silica sand (80 million tones) and kaolin (22 million tones) – used in ceramics, cosmetics and, most recently, in combat area medical equipment.

But it is the abundance of unexpensive, clean, safe and renewable energy provided by SCORE’s hydroelectric infrastructure that forms the centrepiece of the development strategy.

This is a key competitive advantage, especially for energy-hungry industries like aluminium, steel, fertilisers and cement, and it has proved to be a magnet for overseas investment.

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The region already has two huge modern hydropower dams – at Bakun, the largest dam in SE Asia, and Murum – and there are several major projects in the pipeline.

The long-term 2008–2030 development plan for SCORE focuses on growing the energy sector and targets 10 high-impact priority industries, with the aim of attracting major projects that will also create downstream opportunities for smaller businesses.

As these energy-intensive businesses establish themselves locally, they will provide a major economic boost for the areas identified as SCORE growth nodes. They will bring jobs and money into these areas and generate new business opportunities in manufacturing, retailing and services.

They will also create a demand for training centres and technical colleges that can produce the skilled workers needed for their projects, providing new educational facilities that will benefit the whole community.

As SCORE gathers momentum, everyone will feel its effects. Citizens in rural areas will see their incomes rise, in line with the Sarawak state government’s aim to bring living standards up to the level of Malaysia’s wealthier states by 2020, and the inequalities between rural and urban areas will be reduced as poverty is eradicated.

People’s quality of life will be permanently improved, more high income jobs will be created and the whole economy of the region will move up the value chain, in line with the five objectives originally laid down in the Ninth Malaysia Plan.

Alongside the valuable incentives and tax breaks offered by the Federal Government of Malaysia for investors in SCORE, there are many attractive investment incentives provided by Sarawak’s state government.

Sarawak has understood the costs and potential risks facing pioneering investors in rural areas and developed a range of incentives and support services to encourage investment in SCORE and minimise the risks involved. For details of these state-funded schemes, which include preferential land pricing and low electricity tariffs and water rates, click here.

Sarawak’s commitment to SCORE and its success is establishing long-term business confidence in the region and is already helping the state become the destination of choice for many types of business investment.

Approved investments in the manufacturing sector for January-September 2015

Source : Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA)
Visit: www.mida.gov.my