KOTA KINABALU: Economic opportunities in agriculture, tourism and industry are being prioritised in Sabah, with district officers tasked with identifying potential and developing the state’s key growth sectors.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said the state government had allocated nearly RM1bil this year for the development of the sectors.
“Some districts have strength in agriculture, some have tourism potential, while others have marine resources or potential in industry and trade.
“Our task is to ensure this potential can be translated into investment opportunities, jobs and higher income for the people,” he said when opening the 29th Sabah District Officers Conference in interior Keningau yesterday.
Hajiji said the blue economy was another sector with significant potential, particularly in rural areas, given Sabah’s vast marine resources, rich biodiversity and extensive coastal areas.
Hajiji also urged district officers and their assistants to adopt a responsive, proactive and integrity-driven work culture, while being bold in introducing new approaches to improve public service delivery.
He said rapid technological advances, shifts in the global economy, social changes and rising public expectations had made it necessary for the government to continuously improve the way it worked.
Hajiji said the state government had set a development allocation ceiling of RM12.02bil this year for 1,173 programmes and projects under the 13th Malaysia Plan (13MP), the highest in the history of Sabah’s budget.
The allocation comprises 241 continuation projects and 932 new projects.
He also called for a shift in how development success was measured, saying district officers and their assistants should look beyond the number of projects approved or completed.
“We must look at the impact on the people.
“Have their problems been resolved? Have their facilities improved? Have economic opportunities increased? Has their quality of life improved?
“These are the true measures of development success,” he said.
