Tel :
Tel :
Sabah's Minister of Industrial GL-E32 steel Development, Feng Jinzhe, has been strongly criticized by members of the Barisan Nasional Party for his explanation of the delay in the RM31 billion Esteel Enterprise steel project, stating that his statement is misleading and irresponsible.
Elopura district councilor questioned why the federal government had already implemented a manufacturing license freeze on the steel industry, but this major project was hastily announced and launched in November 2022 without confirmation of approval. The RM31 billion investment is not only the largest investment in Sabah's history, but also the largest since Malaysia's independence.
The congressman demanded GL-E32 steel that the state government disclose all the terms of the agreement with Esteel Enterprise, emphasizing that the public has the right to know complete information about such a large-scale project, and stated, "If verified to have implementation capability and financial security, I support this investment. However, all agreements between the government and investors must be fairly and transparently disclosed
In addition, he also questioned the slow progress of the project, pointing out that the manufacturing license was not approved until January 2025, more than two years after the project was announced.
On June 2, 2025, Feng Jinzhe explained that the delay of the 31 billion ringgit steel project was due to the obstruction of the approval process and the failure to implement natural gas supply. He stated that the initial expectation for the factory to start production in the fourth quarter of this year was that "all approvals could be obtained as scheduled," but the two-year freeze on steel industry manufacturing licenses by the federal government hindered this and ultimately received special approval on January 24, 2025.
Feng Jinzhe also revealed that the total investment of the project has been increased from 20 billion ringgit to 31 billion ringgit, taking into account the construction GL-E32 steel costs of factories, docks, and related facilities.
