KOTA KINABALU: Sabah, especially those in Kota Belud, will benefit from a systematic and sustainable approach of sand mining in the northern district thanks to Qhazanah Sabah Bhd (QSB).
The Sabah government's investment arm has teamed up with a company, Warisan Cekal Bistari Sdn Bhd (WHC), to set up a special purpose vehicle namely WH Cekal Bersepadu Sdn Bhd (WHCB), to become an entity that pioneer in a systematic method managing the river sand mining in Kota Belud.
Chief executive officer of WHCB Mohd Amin Bustamin said apart from devising a systematic approach covering end-to-end operations of river sand extraction and mining, the company would also come up with effective solutions for flood mitigation incidents in areas of extraction.
"Our vision is to empower the Sabah state government into becoming a key player in the mining of natural resources by systematically increasing the economies of scale for upstream materials to be supplied to regional and international markets," he said in a statement.
Mohd Amin said it was also WHCB's aim to utilise its revenue to continue towards improving the Kota Belud residents' socio-economy via corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives.
"Our long-term goal is to eventually be recognised as an entity pioneering in environmental, social and corporate governance on the extraction of river sand so that it remains a sustainable practice from an economic, social and environmental perspectives," Mohd Amin added.
WHCB was incorporated in March this year with QSB holding a 70 per cent stake in the company with the balance of 30 per cent equity under WHCB.
Establishment of WHCB reflected QSB's initiative to implement sustainable business model in the extraction of natural resources and use it to generate active income for Sabah government via dividends and/or royalty.
"WHCB is also a reflection of QSB's efforts of putting into practice continuous innovation in bettering its operational methods," he said.
Mohd Amin explained that as a one stop centre, WHCB's functions would include identifying and registering vendors across Malaysia as contractors and/or concession holders operating for WHCB.
"Registration and application will be monitored closely to ensure that vendors can fully comply to all regulation and standard set by Sabah state government and the federal government".
The company would also identify possible sites for river sand extraction to be brought before the Sabah government and/or relevant steering committees for approval. From the approved concession areas in Kota Belud, WHCB would facilitate issue of permit for vendors/contractors.
He said to reflect WHCB's status as a subsidiary company of QSB, the company would be providing payments in the form of application fees, royalty payments, deposits, and others as means to fulfil its responsibility to generate income for the state.
Also present were WHCB Chairman Datuk Baror @ Baharul Sawi, Group Chief Executive Officer Ahmad Rizal Dahli, representatives of Cekal Bistari and representatives of QSB group of companies.