Published: 2009/03/02
THE Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA), which oversees development of the Iskandar Malaysia region in Johor, said the second phase of investments there will be focused on improving the services sector.As highlighted in the Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP), it aims to attract total investments of RM73 billion between 2011-2015 in phase two.Under the first phase (2006-2010), it had secured RM40.25 billion from the initial RM47 billion.While it continues to promote the manufacturing sector given its strong base, it believes the second phase will remain to intensify its effort to boost the six services clusters in Iskandar, its former chief executive officer Datuk Ikmal Hijaz Hashim said.
This provides Iskandar with added resilience to weather cyclical downturns in any particular sector," Ikmal told Business Times."We expect most of the committed investments from 2006-2010 to start their operations when we enter phase two, hence, further boosting the economic activities in the region," he added.
IRDA has so far not received any official information of pullout or delay in any project by Arabs, or other investors in the region, Ikmal said.From the RM40.25 billion in investments secured, 52 per cent is from manufacturing, and 20.3 per cent is real estate based.
Middle East companies have committed RM4.8 billion in real estate."The projects they are investing in are in various stages of implementation. For example, physical works in Medini have begun for the development of the basic infrastructure. Other projects are in the master plan design stage," he said.
The 888ha Medini, located within Iskandar, is Malaysia's single largest urban development. It is divided into three distinct clusters - lifestyle and leisure, culture and heritage, and financial.
Projects in the pipeline include the Legoland Theme Park. A Newcastle University UK Medical University Campus is also being set up in Nusajaya in Iskandar.
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