KUCHING: In his Chinese New Year message today, Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg expressed confidence that Kuching will turn into an aviation hub in the Southeast Asia, when the construction of a new ultra-modern international airport is completed by 2030.
Abang Johari said he based his confidence on the proposed international airport that will be built on a business model that will suit Sarawak's purpose.
"With the new airport, I am confident that we can develop a new airline as a competitive regional carrier and Kuching as the new aviation hub," the premier said.
He said he sincerely hoped that after the New Year and before Hari Raya Aidilfitri, the state will witness the realisation of the ambition to have its own airline with the takeover of MASwings from the Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG).
"The evaluation process has completed and soon we will the sign the agreement for the take-over," he said.
The premier said that all the state's strategic developments would not have come into picture if not for the shared inputs between the public sector and the business community that have sat down as members of the Sarawak Economic Action Council (SEAC) to chart the way forward for Sarawak's economic transformation after Covid-19.
"The combined inputs have enabled us to formulate the Post-Covid-19 Development Strategy 2030 (PCDS 2030) that is anchored upon the foundational pillars of economic prosperity, social inclusivity and environmental sustainability," he added.
"I am proud to say that the Sarawak government has come up with a structured and concrete plan to steer the state to become a developed region with high income by 2030," he said, adding that other state governments as well as parties from overseas have come calling to show their interests to study the formulation and implementation of PCDS 2030.
Abang Johari said Sarawak started the New Year 2025 on quite a good footing when the fist sail away of methanol products from Bintulu to China was officiated on Jan 14.
He said this has been possible after Sarawak Petchem Sdn Bhd, a petro-chemical company wholly-owned by a Sarawak entity, successfully established the methanol plant in Tanjung Kidurong, Bintulu that symbolises the state's determination to develop the downstream of the natural gas resources.
He added that this is the first step of the journey towards the utilisation of more gas as feedstock to produce other products, as well as to generate power in order to invigorate our economy.
"Every LNG cargo ship that leaves Bintulu to other countries without any further process domestically represent some lost opportunities for Sarawak to benefit from the development of value chain of its gas downstream sector.
"We not only want our gas to be exported, but also used as feedstock for further downstream activities," Abang Johari said, noting that the development of the domestic gas industry will provide high-paying jobs and generate the local economy.
"With this approach, I am confident that our gas resources can be a major downstream industry to transform our economy in the next five years and beyond with the ultimate aim of increasing Sarawak's household income in order to be on par, if not surpassing the national average," he added.
Abang Johari said he has also performed a groundbreaking of another plant to produce green methanol, adjacent to the Sarawak Petchem plant.
The premier pointed out that the gas industry is not confined to northern Sarawak only as the Sarawak Gas Roadmap has laid a comprehensive plan to channel natural gas to a gas terminal at the proposed new deep-sea port at Tanjung Embang in Kuching.
"Although, our gas has been exported to other countries for the last 40 years, it is still not too late for us to make use of more gas to develop our own domestic gas industry so that Sarawak can benefit more from value-added products and services," he noted.