Malaysia Interested In Sebatik Investment

Nunukan, June 21 (ANTARA)- A Malaysian company is interested in capital investment in Sebatik Island, Nunukan regency, East Kalimantan, after observing the potential natural resources of the island bordering with Sabah Malaysia, a Sebatik business entrepreneur Herman said on the island Wednesday. Sebatik Island is known for its human resources, particularly palm oil plantations and fisheries. The two sectors have been developing substantially, there therefore are in need of investors for their management. The investor is PT Mustika Minanusa Aurora Dachan Aqua Sdn Bhd with investments in shrimp ponds. This company wished to open 200 hectares of shrimp ponds in Balansiku village, Sebatik. "But no agreements have been made on the location, because they were interested in land in Balansiku which had already been planted with oil palms," said H Herman, a successful oil palm businessman in Sebatik said. He expressed readiness to prepare the shrimp seedlings supplied from Mexico, and promised to build an ice factory and shrimp preserving fatality. Another Malaysian businessman has expressed readiness to invest in oil palm plantations in Sebatik, because Herman said the plantations have already been developing. The palm oil plantations in Sebatik Island have grown to 5000 hectares, and obviously are in need of investors people to buy the palm oil. Oil palms of the people in Sebatik he said had been solf to Tawau, Malaysia on an individual basis as no businessman were able to buy the commodity according to the price standards in Tawau, although the price set by the Malaysian businessmen is not higher that the prevailing prices, but the people need to follow it to avoid losses. "As it is hold to Tawau, the businessmen there could play with the price" he said. In anticipation of oil palm price increases, H Herman said it was not yet the right time to build a palm oil processing plant as such a project is still being built by former Nunukan Regent Abdul Hafid Achmad in Bambang, West Sebatik subdistrict, Nunukan regency. He said it is now not yet the time to build more palm oil plants as the current palm oil production is not sufficient, despite the 5,000 hectares of oil palm plantations on Sebatik Island.