Malaysian construction companies look to SCORE

OSK Research Sdn Bhd says the immediate beneficiaries of the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) are construction players since the necessary infrastructure must be put in place first.

This would then be followed by increasing energy demand to support the industrialisation process, benefiting utility providers like Sarawak Energy Bhd.

"At a later stage, we see a flurry of property developments catering for the migration from the rural to urban areas and rising incomes," it wrote in a report yesterday.

"We believe the SCORE concept makes strong economic sense. We postulate that the initial development of SCORE would be centred on basic and necessary infrastructure such as roads, bridges and ports.
"SCORE's allocation for infrastructure development stands at RM67 billion, which will mostly be government-funded," it added.

OSK Research sees listed companies such as Sarawak Energy, Hock Seng Lee Bhd and Naim Cendera Holdings Bhd benefiting from SCORE.

SCORE is the last of the five growth corridors launched by the federal government.

The targeted investments in SCORE come in second after Iskandar Malaysia's RM334 billion.

The development horizon of SCORE will span 22 years (2008 to 2030). It is expected to generate employment for more than three million people.

The geographical coverage will stretch from Tanjung Manis to Similajau and into the hinterlands, covering 70,000km sq, or 56 per cent of Sarawak.

By Business Times