Mara appoints Atkins Global to develop Asia Aerospace City

KUALA LUMPUR: Pelaburan Mara Bhd has appointed Atkins Global as the lead consultant and master planner to develop the Asia Aerospace City (AAC) in Subang, Selangor.

With this initiative under its Edubizpark concept, Pelaburan Mara hopes to tap into the global aerospace engineering services business, that could be worth US$1 trillion (RM3.28 trillion) by 2020.

AAC, on which work is slated to commence early next year, will be designed as a smart city with integrated office suites, cutting-edge research and development facilities, academic campuses, a convention centre, and residential areas.

Rural and Regional Development Minster Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal said that the development will draw interest and commitments from international aerospace industry players and Malaysia will be the aerospace hub in Asia.

Pelaburan Mara’s group chief executive officer Nazim Rahman said that this partnership will be a major milestone to lead the aerospace industry in the region.

“The vision is much more than just an edu-biz development project as it is to create an iconic, state-of-the-art world-class facility as a home for global players in engineering services, particularly in the aerospace industry,” said Nazim, adding that work will take three years to complete with a gross development value of RM2 billion.

Yesterday, Pelaburan Mara and Atkins signed a memorandum of agreement for the development in the presence of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Abdul Razak.

Atkins will assist in the design and planning as well as the strategic development of AAC. Pelaburan Mara will be the master developer.

“This project signifies Mara’s commitment to fulfilling the aspirations of the government to develop the engineering services sector as one of the entry point projects within the Economic Transformation Programme,” said Shafie Apdal.

Malaysia currently has about 200 aerospace related organisations with an estimated combined earnings of more than RM27.5 billion.

Najib also officially reopened the refurbished Menara Mara on the occasion of Mara’s 48th anniversary.



This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 04, 2014.