China Firms Urge Malaysian Government To Expedite Work Permit Approval For 500 Technicians

KOTA KINABALU (Sabah, Malaysia), July 1 (Bernama) -- Eight companies from China which are implementing several mega projects in east Malaysian state Sabah are calling on the government to help speed up work permit approval for more than 500 technicians from the country. Sabah Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department, Jimmy Wong said the projects could not proceed due to the problem. “When the work permits were not approved, the projects got delayed causing more than 1,000 local workers in the projects to be unemployed. “As such the companies are appealing to the state government for help so that the work permits are approved soon,” he told reporters after meeting representatives of the companies here Wednesday. He said currently all the companies concerned are implementing some 17 mega projects in Sabah costing US$816.63 million (RM3.5 billion, US$1 = RM4.28). “The projects could not proceed as the permit for more than 500 employees have yet to be approved...some companies had even sent their applications since the beginning of this year,” he said. Meanwhile, Wong said the department would be bringing the problem to the Chief Minister Mohd Shafie Apdal to explain the problems faced by the companies. “I hope the issue would be resolved soon because disruption to the projects would only hurt the government and people of Sabah,” he added. -- BERNAMA