NUSAJAYA: Economic growth corridor Iskandar Malaysia is confident of achieving the RM30bil target set for new investments this year based on its achievement since its launch nine years ago.
Iskandar Regional Development Authority (Irda) chief executive officer Datuk Ismail Ibrahim said it had already received RM3bil in new investments in the first quarter of the year. Irda is the regulatory authority mandated to plan, promote and facilitate the development of Iskandar Malaysia.
Ismail said the RM3bil new investments came from the manufacturing, services and property sectors and an official announcement on the breakdown of the investments would be made by the end of the month.
“The party is not over yet. The background music is still on and all stakeholders have to work even harder for Iskandar Malaysia to stay attractive and relevant,” Ismail said at a press conference yesterday.
He said this after giving a closed-door briefing on Iskandar Malaysia’s development and progress to Penang Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas during his visit to Kota Iskandar here.
Ismail said it was not easy to attract strong interest from domestic and foreign investors to Iskandar Malaysia.
He said Irda and other stakeholders would not rest on their laurels as Iskandar Malaysia is facing competition not only from other economic growth corridors in the country but also from other countries in the region.
The other corridors are the Northern Corridor Economic Region, the East Coast Economic Region, the Sabah Development Corridor and the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy.
“Although we have surpassed the investment target since our launch, more effort is needed to continue attracting investments to Iskandar Malaysia,” added Ismail.
By: Zazali Musa
Source: StarProperty
Published on: March 25, 2015
THE CHAMBERS OF LEE & CHONG 