Hajiji, who is also GRS chairman, said despite the challenges, the state government has not wavered in putting its development plans into action even during the health crisis.

“We have done our best to handle the challenges for close to two years,” he said, in his Christmas and New Year message here today.

“We look forward to pushing ahead fervently in 2022 to ensure that our development agenda as outlined in the Sabah Maju Jaya (SMJ) plan and state 2022 Budget will proceed smoothly.”

Hajiji said the GRS government’s five-year SMJ development plan kicked off successfully last March.

It saw the signing of three major investments worth RM10 billion, namely the Lok Kawi Resort City, a copper foil manufacturing plant, and a high-yield integrated coconut project.

“All these are very important and will bring a huge impact for the people of Sabah and the state’s economy,” he said.

Hajiji added that the state government has been relentlessly pursuing more high-impact investments and discussions are still ongoing between several investors and the government to bring investments into Sabah.

At the same time, he said Sabah is also on the right track to becoming an investor database centre for Asean in line with the GRS government’s SMJ development framework.

“Once these investment proposals have been finalised, it will help to restimulate the growth of our state’s economy to bring benefits to the rakyat and state,” Hajiji said.

The chief minister also expressed gratitude to the people for their trust and continued support to GRS to lead and develop the state.

Meanwhile, he said several other demands from Sabah have been successfully resolved through the special council on the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).

This is after the momentous passing of the Federal Constitution Amendment Bill 2021 in Parliament, which restored Sabah and Sarawak’s equal status with the peninsula, he said.

Hajiji said the devolution of power to the state over the issuance of deep-sea fishing licenses was proof that Sabah’s rights and privileges, as provided for under MA63, were acknowledged.

To cap a productive year, he said another success was the signing of the commercial collaboration agreement between Petronas and the state government to mark a new era in Sabah’s oil and gas industry.

This resulted in the formation of SMJ Petroleum Sdn Bhd, an oil and gas company that is wholly-owned by the state government, he said.

According to Hajiji, the state was also in the midst of finalising the Sabah Gas Masterplan with Petronas.