KOTA KINABALU: A South Korean company manufacturing copper foil was the largest foreign investor in Sabah for 2021.

       Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Dr Joachim Gunsalam said that the company, SK Nexilis Malaysia Sdn Bhd, invested RM4.2bil in the state last year.

       He also said that the total amount of foreign investments in the state was RM.4.37bil in 2021, dwarfing the RM11.5mil recorded in 2020.

       The Covid-19 pandemic started in 2020 and had global ramifications.

       "Nexilis is our largest foreign investment so far," Gunsalam, who is state Industrial Development Minister, said when winding up debates for his ministry at the state assembly meeting on Wednesday (March 23).

       Gunsalam said that his ministry had set up a task force comprising 26 state and federal agencies to help draw in big investors to Sabah.

       One of the key goals, he said, was to speed up the process for investors from the time they express interests to setting up operations in the state.

       In the case of SK Nexilis, he said that the task force helped to expedite the process and to secure a factory lot in Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park (KKIP) within seven months.

       The company is expected to create about 7,000 jobs during its construction phase and 400 jobs when it begins operations by early 2024.

       He also said that a Chinese company producing solar panels is also expected to take off soon after they signed an agreement with KKIP Sdn Bhd earlier this month.

       Gunsalam said that the company is expected to create 1,800 jobs at the photovoltaic glass factory in KKIP with 300 more jobs at the silica processing plant in the northern Kudat area.