Halal Park can be major producer of quality halal products: Taib

The Borneo Post: The Tanjung Manis Halal Park is poised to set the benchmark for the production of halal food products due to its emphasis on standards in terms of quality and safety.

Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud believes that the park will attract investments of up to RM20 billion and he envisioned it becoming a major producer of high quality halal products for the export market besides meeting the country’s food security strategies.

“The most beautiful thing about this (park) is that we have the credibility to export because all of our products would be able to satisfy the ISO 22000 (a standard developed for food safety) and that is very important nowadays,” he said at a press conference here.

He had earlier witnessed the signing of legal documents between the Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC), Tanjung Manis Food and Industrial Park Sdn Bhd, Halal Industry Development Corporation (HDC), and Sea Party Group for the licence to enter and occupy land at the park.

The chief minister was particularly excited about the application of bio-technology, such as chlorella by Sea Party, which has the technology to produce the micro algae.

Sea Party chief executive officer Dr Ray Lin told the press conference that the micro algae would not cause the damage that convent-ional traditional agriculture had on the environment.

One of the significant benefits of chlorella, he said was the reduction in the use of antibiotics, which were a health hazard if consumed in large amount.

“A lot of products from mainland China, when shipped out to Europe and other developed countries, are rejected because of the overuse of antibiotics.

“We are not going to do that. We are using chlorella to improve the environment, not only for prawn farming but also all seafood, even chicken and feed mill. It would improve the immune system of the animal, so you do not need antibiotics,” said Dr Lin.

He added that in aquaculture, a section of a river would usually be blocked off to farm fish and after a while, there would be a build up of toxic material so the farm would eventually be abandoned.

“Now, we are using another process to bypass this kind of problem,” he said, adding that Sea Party had 30 years of experience in this field.

Asked what environmental impact the development of the Halal Park would have, he replied: “The whole thing is designed to minimise any environ-mental impact. Not using antibiotics is one of them.”

Dr Lin explained further that wastewater from farms using chlorella was not hazardous and could in fact immediately reusable.

The water with chlorella, he said, could be used for horticulture as it sped up the growth of plants.

Sea Party is investing in six sectors in the Halal Park - chlorella, biotech prawn farming, eel farming, marine fish, biotech chicken and egg, feed milling, and downstream processing industries.

It is also opening a research & development centre, with the collabo-ration of the National Taiwan Ocean University.

The investment in the first phase of these projects, which are expected to be operational within the next three to five years, amount to about RM2 billion.

The biggest investment is in biotech prawn farming at RM900 million, followed by biotech chicken and egg (RM480 million) and downstream processing (RM150 million).

On Sea Party’s future investment, Dr Lin said: “If phase one is successful, we hope there will be other phases to come and this is going to make Sarawak the number one in the world.”

The signatories yesterday were HDC chairman Tan Sri Syed Jalaludin Syed Salim, STIDC acting deputy general manager Hashim Bojet, Tanjung Manis Food and Industrial Park director Mohd Azwar Mahmud and the managing directors of six Sea Party subsidiaries.

Also present at the func-tion yesterday were Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr George Chan and Second Planning and Resource Management Minister Dato Sri Awang Tengah Ali Hassan.

Tengah, who is also STIDC chairman, said before the signing ceremony that investors stand to gain from the cheap and abundant energy that would be produced in the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy, where the Halal Park is situated.

He also said the government was committed to producing the manpower needed by the industries.

At the same time, he pointed out that “the government would leave no stones unturned to guarantee political stability and racial harmony” as they were the cornerstone of the state’s progress.