Corporate Milestones Description

commenced

Commenced Manufacturing of Ordinary Portland Cement at Sarawak’s 1st Cement grinding plant

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On 12 January 1978, in a simple ceremony witnessed by some 40 invited guests and 79 employees, Sarawak’s then Chief Minister – the late Tun Datuk Patinggi Abdul Rahman Ya’kub – turned the knob to start Borneo’s first cement grinding plant, located at the Pending Industrial Estate. The Chief Minister was elated that the State could now depend on local resources and manpower to develop the much-needed housing industry, which was slowly growing. Speaking at a press conference following the opening of the plant, Managing Director, Datuk Haji Amin Satem said that, “with the setting up of the plant, a stable price of the commodity is assured.” Up until then, the cement price had fluctuated depending on the source of shipment. Once the CMS plant was established, the local production price was fixed by the Federal Ministry of Domestic Trade.

established

Established as Cement Manufacturers Sarawak Sdn Bhd

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Sarawak State Financial Secretary Tan Sri Datuk Amar Haji Bujang Mohd Nor called the meeting to attention. With him in his office in the Secretariat Building, Kuching, was Datuk Haji Mohd Amin Satem, Executive Chairman of the Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) and four others: Datuk Haji Yahya bin Haji Lampong and Philip Lee, both from the Sabah Economic Development Corporation (SEDCO), and Peter Koh and Nicholas Gunjew of the SEDC. It was 9.00 a.m. on Thursday, 31 October 1974. This was the first Board of Directors’ meeting of Cement Manufacturers Sarawak Sendirian Berhad. The company had been incorporated a little over three weeks earlier, on 8 October 1974, with its registered address at the 2nd floor of the Electra House building, Power Street, Kuching. CMS was jointly owned on a 50-50 basis by the SEDC and SEDCO, with Tan Sri Datuk Amar Haji Bujang Mohd Nor and Datuk Haji Mohd Amin Satem its original directors.