KOTA KINABALU: All state government linked companies (GLCs) are required to pay a minimum of RM1mil in dividends annually to the state government.

       Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said the dividend payment requirement would take immediate effect from this year.

       Hajiji said that GLCs have an important role to help further boost the state’s coffers in efforts for the government to bring more development to the people.

       Speaking after getting a briefing at the Tamparuli sub-district secretariat in Tuaran near here, Hajiji said that the state government would not be depending on the GLCs alone to fill up the state’s coffers.

       “We also need investors to come in,” he said.

       "Investors bring in funds for their projects and this will create an immediate positive impact for the people,” added Hajiji, who also said that job creation is among the benefits.

       The Chief Minister said one of the features in the Sabah Maju Jaya (SMJ) or Sabah development blueprint was to create an investor-friendly policy.

       “Within a year and a half since the launching of the SMJ, we have attracted more than 10 companies to come to invest in Sabah,” he said.

       Through the SMJ, he said, Sabah was making strides in its economic build-up and this was evident when the state registered RM5.44bil in revenue, the biggest ever in its history.