LABUAN, Jan 29 — The Sabah Government’s investment arm, Asian Supply Base Sdn Bhd, is focusing on the expansion of its base operation and capacity.
Deputy Finance Minister II Yamani Hafez Musa said it is high time for the Labuan-based Asian Supply Base to expand its existing 139.61 hectares of base operation given its status as a logistic hub for the Labuan’s oil and gas industry.
“I’m optimistic Asian Supply Base has a long term development plan to further develop the base to cater for the need for the increasing demand from the industry player.
“Petronas has given its support and recognition to the Asian Supply Base’s commitment and efforts to upgrade the facilities in the base,” he told reporters after attending a briefing on the company’s performance at Wisma ASB here today.
He said the company’s management team was making efforts to get through the land deal with the local authority for the expansion of the company’s operation base, owing to the land value in the island being relatively higher and limited than in other states.
“Asian Supply Base has had a collaboration with Labuan Corporation since 2007 and with a good relationship, we hope the land deal for the expansion can be materialised,” he said.
Asian Supply Base chairman Datuk Suhaili Abd Rahman said the company is prepared to invest in the expansion exercise with a focus on improving efficiency, facility and customer experience.
“We have been discussing the expansion plans and we had identified the suitable land for the expansion…it is now for the government especially the local authority to chip in to facilitate the land deal.
“With the increased demand from our customers and our growth prospect, our primary focus moving forward is to optimise the current terminal,” he said.
He added that since its operation in 1984, the company has created thousands of employment opportunities for the locals of Labuan and Sabah as well as supporting business activities.
A total of 88 oil and gas-related international and domestic companies are currently operating in Asian Supply Base’s operation base with 16 of them being petroleum arrangement contractors and the remaining 71 are non-petroleum arrangement contractors.
— BERNAMA
Source: http://prn.bernama.com/melaka/news.php?c=&id=2047869