KL plans $1.2b paper mill

KL plans $1.2b paper mill

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia's timber tycoon Ting Pek Khiing is to build a three-billion-ringgit (US$1.2 billion) paper and pulp mill jointly with the state government of Sabah, a report said yesterday.

Ting, who is the key developer of a massive Bakun dam project in Sarawak state, said the paper products manufactured would be both for domestic use as well as for export.

"The project has already been agreed in principle ... the deal will be signed soon," Ting was reported by the Star daily as saying in Miri, in Sarawak.

The major project will be the first of its kind in Malaysia's timber-rich Sabah state. Both Sabah and Sarawak are on the island of Borneo in the east.

The Sabah paper project will be the second undertaken by Ting. One of Ting's public listed companies, PWE Industries Bhd is building a three-billion-ringgit paper mill in Sarawak jointly with local partner RGM International.