Masterplan and Business Study for KKIP Free Economic Zone

This is a study carried out on behalf of a Malaysian federal government agency for the state of Sabah. The core idea of developing a Free Economic Zone (FEZ) in Sabah’s capital is to establish an industrial base that will eventually address issues in logistics and trade that hold back the state’s economy. Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park (KKIP) occupies 8,300 acres, more than half of which is designated for industry. The study seeks to establish strategic targets for KKIP and the parameters and planning for a FEZ that will help realise those targets. It will be the first Free Zone in Sabah and is intended to coincide with the development of a new container port in nearby Sepanggar Bay. For this project we worked with a Hong Kong-based economics team that had previously done work in Sabah, complementing our ports-based expertise with their broader understanding of the underpinning macroeconomics