Kuching – Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Bhd is keen to help finance the Pan Borneo highway, including sub-contractors involved in the project.

Bank Pembangunan president and group managing director Mohammed Rafidz Ahmed Rasiddi said the project fit the bank’s loan portfolio which comprised 85% infrastructure, with roads and highway making up a large portion of the segment.

Bank Pembangunan is very excited with the potential of the Pan Borneo highway because it falls squarely into the type of lending that we do.

Certainly, from our perspective, we are very eager to participate in funding it, not only in the project but also down to the sub-contractors that help the main contractors, he told reporters at an infrastructure forum organised by Bank Pembangunan here yesterday.

Rafidz also said Bank Pembangunan had lent out over RM2bil for Sarawak-based projects such as hotels, roads and area development in the last five years.

He said the bank was exploring other opportunities in the state, including mini-hydro projects.

Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri James Masing, who opened the forum on behalf of Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem, welcomed Bank Pembangunan’s interest in funding the highway and other infrastructure projects in Sarawak.

What is important is that the bank is helping the small contractors who are part and parcel of the project. The main bulk has been financed but the small contractors are the ones that require a lot of financing, he said.

Masing also said the state required huge sums to develop rural areas, where road contruction was estimated to cost Rm16 mil per kilometer.

In the next 15 years, I have to implement and build 4,000km of roads, which will entail about RM24bil.

I hope the forum will find ways and means to make the funds available to us and what the conditions are for us to get the funds, he said.

Earlier, Bank Pembangunan board member Datuk Wan Azhar Wan Ahmad said Sarawak was set to become the next investment and growth frontier.

With the state currently going through a rapid economic development phase, we see a growing focus and ample investment opportunites to develop major infrastructure facilities in Sarawak, he said in his welcoming speech.

As such, he said the forum was a platform for the public and private sectors to address the state’s infrastructure needs, discuss what should be done and provide opportunities to strengthen partnerships and share resources and expertise in infrastructure and financing.

Bank Pembangunan is committed to work closely with the state government and the industry. We recognise our developmental role as an agent of the Government and we are here to invest in infrastructure for a better tomorrow, he added.