Hajiji, who is also the state finance minister, made the call this morning when chairing the first board meeting of Invest Sabah Bhd (ISB), a unit under the state industrial development ministry.

“Red tape faced by well-meaning investors will only hurt our efforts to draw investors to Sabah. Hence, we must remove them to facilitate investments,” he said in a statement here today.

Invest Sabah Bhd was established last December to promote both local and foreign investments.

It will act as a one-stop agency for investments into the state, providing investors with information on investment requirements, including licensing approvals and building networking platforms.

Hajiji said ISB will act as the secretariat for an investment committee, comprising state and federal agencies as well as relevant stakeholders to vet all investment proposals.

He said ISB’s success will be a boon to the state’s economic progress in achieving one of the main thrusts of Sabah Maju Jaya (SMJ) — the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah government’s five-year development plan.

SMJ has three main thrusts, namely agriculture, tourism and industrial sectors; human capital and people’s well-being, as well as infrastructure network and green sustainability.