Established on 15 March 2018, NRDA which encompass the Limbang and Lawas area, is the final agency to be set up under the Regional Corridor Development Authority (RECODA).
Profile of NRDA:
Date of Establishment: 15 March 2018
Board Chairman: The Honourable Datuk Amar Haji Awang Tengah Ali Hassan (Deputy Premier)
Land size: 7, 790-kilometre square
Population (2019est): 101, 500
Division: Limbang
District: Limbang and Lawas
(Source: NRDA)
“The whole idea for the establishment of NRDA is to accelerate the development within this region, which is the furthest and most isolated division in Sarawak,”
“Once we are able to bridge the connectivity gap, then other utilities and services can come in including telecommunications and various business opportunities through various potential sectors,” said Regional Director of NRDA, Datu Haji Ubaidillah Bin Haji Abdul Latip during an interview with RAKAN Sarawak in Lawas.
In building connectivity, Datu Ubaidillah highlighted three mega projects under NRDA that will bring major impact to the region and its local community.
“These includes the northern coastal highway (NCH), the construction of the new Lawas deep sea port and also the new Lawas airport which will be located in Sundar,” he said.
The proposed 88-kilometre NCH will cover the remaining Pan Borneo Highway Sarawak stretch through Limbang and Lawas, through Brunei and all the way to Sabah, providing road users with safe, time-saving and seamless travel.
On the new port, Datu Ubaidillah said that it both an opportunity and a necessity as Lawas is the only place in Sarawak where there is a location for deep sea port in which can be utilised to bring in and export good into and from Sarawak.
It was reported that Pulau Sari, Lawas was picked as the ideal location for port with a depth of between 15 and 25 metres.
As for the construction of the new and bigger airport, Datu Ubaidillah said that it would enable Lawas to receive bigger planes such as an airbus, thus more passengers and perhaps bringing cargo coming in and out of Sarawak.
At the moment, Lawas has small number of flights coming from outside with limited capacity of passengers using twin otter plane.
“The construction of the new airport is strategic and important now that we have investors coming here for industries such as petrochemical, otherwise they will face a lot of challenges when coming here,” he said.
In developing the petrochemical industry, it was reported that investors are eager to proceed with the Petrochemical and Refinery Integrated Project in Lawas.
A proposed integrated oil and gas complex is to be built on a 400ha site at Pulau Sari in Lawas, thus providing employment and business opportunities to many, especially to the locals.
“This is important, otherwise there will a net migration where skilled and competent workers will migrate out and leaving the population growth here to decrease,” said Datu Ubaidillah.
Other infrastructure projects include upgrading existing roads, drainage improvement works, proposed upgrading of existing agriculture training centre, proposed upgrading of existing ICQS complex, proposed upgrading of existing of Limbang wet market, proposed upgrading facilities at Tapak Pesta Lumpur Berbuak Meritam in Limbang and also proposed new ikan tahai smoke house at Kampung Awat-Awat in Punang among others.
Aside from infrastructure projects, NRDA is also involved in accelerating its the socio-economic activities and programmes in Limbang and Lawas.
Known for its cottage industries, among the potential area which can be harnessed includes those such as machete-making, beads, fishery and agriculture sectors.
“For the past two years, most of the cottage industry were affected by the pandemic, but now we are slowly gaining back momentum,” he said.
Among the programs by NRDA includes projects for planting crops such as corn, jackfruit, banana, Keningau diamond pineapple, coffee and paddy processing, as well as fish harvesting in cages.
According to Datu Ubaidillah, with the fishery sector being one of the most lucrative industries in the Limbang division, the main export area for the products is Brunei.
Being one of the sought-after industries by the local community, it is no surprise that NRDA is also tapping into the industry to help elevate the socio-economy of the local communities.
One of NRDA projects also includes them collaborating with the Lembaga Kemajuan Ikan Malaysia (LKIM) to provide fish cages for the fishermen for the Persatuan Nelayan Kawasan (PNK) Limbang and Lawas.
To date, PNK Limbang and PNK Lawas has about 230 and 1,040 members as of 30 June 2022 and 31 May 2022 respectively.
On average, Datu Ubaidillah noted that the local fishermen would transport 300 kilograms of products including dried prawns and fishes as well as fresh produces to Brunei every month.
As a profitable industry, Datu Ubaidillah noted that even during the pandemic period, the fishery entrepreneurs were still very stable as they continued to provide fresh products every month there.
“This is because Brunei is still very much very dependent on us for fresh fishery products,” said Datu Ubaidillah adding that once the border is fully open, it will provide good business and trading opportunity to the local fishermen.
In the agriculture sector, NRDA is also tapping into expanding the buffalo industry by building buffalo hubs for breeding and milking station.
“Among the products that can be produced from this includes buffalo cheese, which is a pricey and luxury items that can be exported to global market,” said Datu Ubaidillah.
In further accelerating the socio-economy of the region, another project by NRDA is the construction of anjung usahawan (entrepreneur center).
“We are building a total of eight anjung usahawan in the Limbang division, two being in Limbang and six in Lawas. We are also reviewing one of them which is in Ba’ kelalan,” said Datu Ubaidillah.
Seen as an important and growing centre point, Ba’Kelalan is deems as the connecting point to Kalimantan from Sarawak and hence also the entrance to Sabah, Brunei and other parts of Sarawak.
Datu Ubaidillah said that it is set to be a business and service centre with facilities such as various government agencies among others to be part of it.
He noted that anjung usahawan will only be a small part of the service centre and with that they hope that it a new growth area not only for the locals but also those within the vicinity.
