NEWS & UPDATES
Sarawak Energy Hosts Asean Utilities
Delegates of HAPUA Working Group No.5 converge in Kuching for knowledge sharing to enhance operational excellence
KUCHING, 12th DECEMBER 2015, SATURDAY: Over a hundred delegates from throughout the ASEAN countries of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia converged at a 3-day event here deliberating on enhancing areas of cooperation in the ASEAN utility industry.
Themed “Organisational Transformation and Cultural Transformation: Corporate Culture”, the 4th Annual Meeting of Heads of ASEAN Power Utilities/Authorities (HAPUA) Working Group No 5 on Human Resources was hosted by Sarawak Energy and supported by Tenaga Nasional Berhad and the Sarawak Convention Bureau.
The mission of the Working Group is to collaborate in the area of Human Resource and its objectives include identifying joined training and development projects for members, to present and share experiences, to seek out new ideas and approaches and provide information on Human Resource.
Speaking at the launch on Tuesday, Sarawak Energy Group Chief Executive Officer Datuk Torstein Dale Sjotveit said, "It is proven that higher energy-consuming countries record stronger gross domestic product (GDP) per capita which translates into a healthy economy and wealth creation, thus earning these nations developed status. It is obvious that energy drives development. If you look at the Western developed countries, their GDP per capita hovers from USD60,000 up to USD100,000 compared to Malaysia's USD10,000 (2014).”
By harnessing the state's resources into sustainable and affordable energy, Torstein said Sarawak Energy was helping to power the state’s development strategy of SCORE or the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy which has seen a significant number of international investors setting up operations in the state’s industrial parks such as in Samalaju in Bintulu.
Sarawak Energy's ongoing efforts to secure energy to meet the demand for present and future needs will only continue to spur industrialisation making Sarawak an ideal location for investors to set up their operations and helping create employment opportunities.
In addition to political and social stability, Torstein said Sarawak continues to be an ideal location for foreign investors given its advantage of having young available workforce who are largely semi-skilled and English literate.
“Sarawak Energy alone employs over 4,200 people, a workforce that has grown by 1,500 since 2009. In order for us to be able to serve our half a million customers and support industrial development in the state, we have embarked on a transformational journey which includes strengthening our human resource and enhancing the competency of our employees.
“For the past four years we have seen the positive results from our transformation process. We have received a number of accolades for business excellence as well as our corporate social responsibility efforts. We want to continue excelling and we hope through this gathering of minds, we will be able to complement each other in achieving our goals,” he added.
