Gerbang Alaf Restaurants Sdn Bhd, a licensee of McDonald's, plans to invest RM100 million in Sabah, a State which they describe as peacefully developing.

The investment will see an additional 14 to 18 new McDonald's outlets within the next three to four years, as well as refurbishing existing 13 outlets in the State.

With this comes not only 1,000 new job opportunities for locals, but also business opportunities for local contractors, suppliers and farmers, according to its Managing Director cum Operating Partner, Azmir Jaafar.

"Not only are job opportunities offered at our outlets, we also create jobs for contractors, suppliers and farmers as all materials like vegetables and fresh poultry will be from Sabah," he told the media after a courtesy call on Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal at the State Administrative Centre, Tuesday.

Azmir said currently they have 800 workers in their outlets across Sabah, comprising locals, holding posts from supervisors all the way to outlet managers.

"We are currently in the midst of constructing three new outlets in Semporna, Keningau and Likas Bay, all of which we hope to complete by this year," he said.

He said apart from the expansion and refurbishment plans, they also discussed with the Chief Minister about their proposal to conduct a "Back to School" corporate social responsibility programme in Sabah which involves providing free school uniforms to underprivileged children.

"We will collaborate with the Education Ministry and hope to start identifying underprivileged school children in Sabah beginning October which is also a Community Month for McDonalds," he said.

He said the response from the Chief Minister has been very positive and noted Shafie's priority on investment and job opportunities for Sabahans.

"We are bullish that Sabah has good business opportunity for McDonalds," he said. Also present were Director of Development, Syed Redza Algadrie, and Consultant cum Government Relations, Dato' Mohammed Nasir.