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JOHOR BAHRU (Dec 13): Iskandar Malaysia celebrated its fifth anniversary last Sunday with the signing of 12 new agreements, committing an additional RM1.73 billion worth of investment, both foreign and local.
The biggest deal, worth RM350 million, was signed between Enyap Sabun Malaysia Sdn Bhd and Johor Corp Bhd (JCB) to lease 23ha of land at Tanjung Langsat Industrial Complex to build an integrated oleochemical plant.
When he received the five-year progress report on the region at Puteri Habour, Johor Bahru last Sunday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said development in the region is proceeding as planned and on track to achieving the goals outlined for it.
Najib announced that committed investments in the region came to RM77.8 billion as at September 2011, of which RM38 billion, more than half of the committed amount, have been actualised.
At the press conference, Najib noted that efforts to collaborate with the Singapore government to improve connectivity are going well and said additional details will be announced sometime in January together with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Ismail Ibrahim, CEO of the Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) said, "The first development phase which ran from 2006 to 2010 secured investments of about RM69.5 billion, 48% higher than the target of RM47 billion."
Of the committed total investment, 41% came from foreign investors while local investors provided the remaining 59%, said Ismail. By sector, investment as at December 2010 went into manufacturing at RM26.7 billion, properties RM16.5 billion, while utilities, tourism, and others contributed 14.5%.
"Along with RM6.3 billion of infrastructure investments provided under the 9th Malaysia Plan, we have also provided two major Iskandar-based projects under the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) — Educity and the Bioexcell Technology Park," said Najib, adding that additional investment will be provided by the government on a rolling basis.
The five-year report revealed 27,299 jobs had been created in Iskandar as at September 2011 and that figure is projected to double to over 55,730 by 2015.
The electrical and electronic (E&E) sector contributed the most jobs at 9,716 or 35.59%, while leisure and tourism came in second with 6,094 jobs or 22.32%, closely followed by education with 5,910 jobs or 21.65%.
Najib also said while global economic conditions are challenging, he expects the Malaysian economy to continue growing at a robust 5% but noted if the situation gets much worse, Malaysia will inevitably be affected as well.
The prime minister also announced the deployment of auxiliary police to the Iskandar region.
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