POIC Sabah keen to help state govt meet manpower needs

Sabah UiTM students who attended the briefing.

KOTA KINABALU: Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC) Sabah wants to work with learning and training institutions to meet the evolving manpower needs arising from investment inflow under the state government’s Sabah Maju Jaya (SMJ) development roadmap initiatives.

The state-owned company, responsible for the development of the POIC Lahad Datu industrial park and POIC Port, believes that the manpower needs of investors are expected to diversify and become more sophisticated in the future.

“Investors are no longer looking just for production line workers but also manpower with the latest skills and we need to be prepared to remain competitive as an investment destination,” said Lynette Hoo, the deputy chief executive officer of POIC Sabah Sdn Bhd.

She was speaking after a visit to Unversiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Sabah campus here where she met with the staff led by deputy rector Dr Sharifah Nurafizah Syed Annuar on Thursday (Feb 23).

Hoo gave a briefing on POIC Lahad Datu to about 90 graduating diploma students of UiTM’s Plantations and Agricultural Technology faculty.

Among others, POIC Sabah and Sabah UiTM agreed to explore manpower and academia needs in fields such as logistics and oleochemicals industries, which are sectors POIC Sabah are prioritising.

"And as we push towards using POIC Lahad Datu to anchor Sabah's east coast as a regional logistics hub, developing a free zone, amalgamating regional resources for value-added manufacturing at POIC, quality manpower is vital,” Hoo said.

She added that as industrialisation grows and jobs are created, government-linked institutions such as POIC Sabah also desired that Sabahans benefit optimally by preparing them for the new and widening opportunities.

Aside from UiTM, POIC Sabah also has sights on the numerous training and research institutions including the Politeknik Kota Kinabalu, Institut Latihan Mara as well as the Sabah Skills and Technology Centre.

Since its inception in 2005, POIC Sabah and companies in POIC Lahad Datu have regularly been accepting interns from various institutions of higher learning.

The SMJ development initiative is a holistic plan to expedite Sabah’s development, including expanding the industry sector in order to enlarge its share in the state’s gross domestic product (GDP).