KUCHING: Sarawak Energy has entered into a tri-party memorandum of understanding (MoU) to provide financing solutions for local contractors under the energy developer and power utility’s vendor financing programme.
The MoU, signed with Bank Islam and Syarikat Jaminan Pembiayaan Perniagaan (SJPP), a wholly-owned agency of the Finance Ministry, will focus on strengthening local contractors’ financial capacity by providing better access to financing facilities. The financial support from Bank Islam will improve contractors’ working capital and cash flow for more to be eligible to participate in the procurement of Sarawak Energy’s infrastructure development projects.
Group Chief Operating Officer Lu Yew Hung signed on behalf of Sarawak Energy while Head of Commercial Banking Ahmad Haliman Abdul Halim signed on behalf of Bank Islam. SJPP was represented by its general manager Azlan Mohd Agel.
The signing ceremony was witnessed by Bank Islam East Malaysia regional head Abdul Malek Abdullah, SJPP’s general manager Juanita Rusmini Abdul Jalil, while Sarawak Energy was represented its senior vice president for Contracts and Procurement Sulaiman Abdul Hamid; legal general manager Stephanie Gae Chin, and other members of senior management.
The collaboration will leverage on SJPP’s Government Guaranteed Schemes to provide credit guarantee to eligible contractors who require alternative solution to meet the collateral requirement.
“With the facilities in place to reduce their financial burden, more SMEs will have the opportunities to tender for larger-scale projects,” Lu Yew Hung said during the signing here recently.
He said that contractors’ strong financial standing was a crucial consideration factor during procurement assessments.
“Since the rollout of the financial facilities two months ago, two of our contractors have been granted the facilities,” he said.
Acknowledging the significance of the collaboration, Ahmad said that the bank was proud to partner with Sarawak Energy and SJPP to provide innovative financing solutions to assist contractors in meeting their project delivery timeline.
“In supporting Sarawak Energy’s Vendor Financing Programme, Bank Islam has allocated RM300 million under this programme to assist vendors with small contracts to gain access to financing that will help them execute projects awarded by Sarawak Energy or its subsidiaries according to schedules,” Ahmad added.
Bank Islam and SJPP also expressed their excitement to help SMEs bridge their funding and collateral gaps, in support of Sarawak Energy’s initiatives to encourage more local participation in the integrated power utility’s contract and procurement activities.
