Opening Sabah's treasure troves

Some 20 metres from the shores of Sipadan Island in Sabah, Malaysia, the coral reef suddenly drops 1,000m to 2,000m. Divers perched atop the edge of the reef wall can watch from a distance of 10m thousands of swirling barracudas, mating hawksbill sea turtles and many other marine creatures.

One of the best diving sites in the world, Sipadan Island has one of the largest collections of rare marine life in one place. It is a front-row seat to the world-renowned Coral Triangle bordered by Sabah in the west, the Philippines in the north, Indonesia in the south all the way to the Solomon Islands in the east. Considered as a global centre of marine biodiversity and as the "Amazon of the seas", the triangle is home to six of the world's seven marine turtle species and the living specimen of coelacanth thought to be extinct 65 million years ago.

Sabah Development Corridor

To harness Sabah's natural attributes, the Malaysian government created the Sabah Development Corridor (SDC) in 2008. One of Malaysia's five economic corridors, SDC aspires to turn Sabah into an internationally recognised destination for business and leisure by 2025. SDC aims to raise Sabah's liveability index and attract investments through infrastructure development and a lower cost of doing business. Focused on tourism, oil and gas, palm oil, agriculture, education, manufacturing and logistics, the corridor targets high-value industry and services, balanced economic growth and environment conservation.

The following year in 2009, the government created the Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority (SEDIA) as a one-stop authority to drive SDC's growth. Tasked primarily to plan, co-ordinate, promote and accelerate the development of SDC, SEDIA will help Sabah raise its gross domestic product fourfold by 2025, while creating 900,000 new jobs. This is expected to raise per capita income threefold, thus creating a vibrant local market for businesses.

Competitive advantages