09/05/2011 (Daily Express) -  About 25,000 job opportunities will be up for grabs once the Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC) Sandakan becomes fully operational in 2014, said its Chairman, Datuk Bernard Maraat.

He said infrastructure construction work in the area, especially on the access road to the site, is now being actively implemented and is expected to be fully completed by early 2013.

"To date, the infrastructure construction has reached 80 per cent with the rest being technical and electronics work," he told reporters after the opening of the 8th Annual General Meeting of former Members of Parliament and State Assemblymen (Mubarak), here, Saturday.

The meeting was officiated by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman.

Bernard, who is also the former Pensiangan Member of Parliament, said when the POIC Sandakan is fully operational, it will attract more investors from both within and outside the country.

"To date, there are five investors keen on purchasing lots in the area and expect more to do so in it, in view of the price of land not being that expensive compared to the urban areas," he added.

The POIC is an integrated industrial park that will host related palm oil downstream activities in one cluster.

The project is also a strategic initiative of the State Government to further boost the palm oil industry in Sabah by creating investment opportunities in downstream activities.