Sinyi Group pushes ahead with RM1b InterContinental resort in Papar, eyes Mengalum Island project
Taiwan-based Sinyi Group is building an RM1 billion InterContinental resort in Papar, Sabah, with the main hotel set to open in December 2027. Separately, the group is pursuing a longer-term low-density resort on Mengalum Island, where conservation work is a key component of its development plans.
PETALING JAYA (Oct 1): Taiwan-based Sinyi Group is building an InterContinental resort in Papar and pursuing a longer-term resort proposal for Mengalum Island, where it says conservation work will form part of its development plans.
The approximately RM1 billion InterContinental Sabah Kota Kinabalu Resort in Melinsung, Papar, is expected to open its main hotel in December 2027, followed by the wider resort in 2028, Bernama reported, citing Papar MP Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali. Armizan said the development spans more than 32.4ha and was 34.1% complete as at September 2026, based on a briefing by the developer. The main hotel was 47.7% complete. The project is planned to have 418 rooms and accommodation units and is expected to create about 700 jobs upon completion, according to the Bernama report.
When operating partner IHG Hotels & Resorts announced the project in November 2023, it described a 450-room beachfront resort. Its release listed four restaurants and bars, 2,400 sq m of meeting space across 11 meeting rooms, three outdoor pools, a spa, fitness centre and children’s club among the planned facilities. The difference between IHG’s original 450-room figure and the 418 rooms and accommodation units cited in the latest briefing has yet to be explained publicly.
Sinyi’s Mengalum Island proposal is at an earlier stage. The Borneo Post reported in 2023 that the group had invested RM226 million in 2019 to acquire more than half the island’s land. Sinyi plans a low-density, high-end resort and has said most of its landholding would be dedicated to conservation and reforestation.
According to the same report, Sinyi worked with Universiti Malaysia Sabah’s Borneo Marine Research Institute on ecological surveys. It also signed a sea-turtle conservation agreement with the Sabah Wildlife Department that enables it to establish a hatchery on the island. The department provided wildlife-management training to Sinyi employees. The Borneo Post also reported Sinyi’s ambition to achieve net-zero carbon emissions for Mengalum Island by 2030, though the report does not set out a method for measuring and independently verifying the island’s emissions or a construction timetable for the proposed resort.
The Papar resort has a stated opening target and construction progress to measure against it. For Mengalum, the timing of development and the results of Sinyi’s conservation efforts remain to be established.
