KANGAR, Aug 4 — The Perlis State Legislative Assembly was yesterday told that the Chuping Valley Industrial Area (CVIA) development project in Padang Besar will not be affected by the Bukit Kayu Hitam Industrial Estate project in Kedah.

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azlan Man said this was because CVIA was geared towards the green technology industry while Bukit Kayu Hitam was more specific to the rubber-based industry.

"Feedback received indicates both complement each other,” he said when winding up the debate at the sitting at the State Assembly Complex here.

He said the CVIA, which covers an area of 1,215 hectares, would take 10 years to complete and will be driven by the private sector and state government acting as facilitator to attract investment.

Azlan said he had suggested at the National Physical Development Council meeting chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in Putrajaya last month that the state development proposal be implemented in line with the Perlis Development Plan 2030.

"In addition to the CVIA, there are mixed development projects in Kuala Perlis, Kangar City Centre and K-Parc in Seriab. All these projects have no problems and are on schedule, providing about 7,000 jobs,” Azlan said.

Earlier, when responding to the question by Datuk Sabry Ahmad (BN-Santan), Azlan said the state government through its Mentri Besar Incorporated (MB) company is expected to finalise the terms of the project agreement to build and assemble cars in CVIA with the Chinese company, Go Automobile Manufacturing Sdn Bhd, by the end of the year. 

According to Azlan some matters of principle regarding the method of granting 300 acres of land to the company has been reached but other important matters such as the project financing structure, financial model, business and equity structure of the joint venture company were under negotiation.

In reply to a question from Mohd Shukri Ramli (PAS-Sanglang) on the state government’s debt to the federal government and payments made annually, Azlan said the state’s current debt was RM394.34 million.

He explained that the loan was used to finance projects that are not profit-oriented but focused on the people such as low-cost public housing (RM87.97 million) and water supply projects (RM155.62 million). Loans were also made to the Perlis State Economic Development Corporation (PKENPs) to carry out development projects (RM130.83 million) and office and palace construction projects (RM19.91 million),

Azlan said the state government had provided certain provisions to repay the loan based on its current cash position and RM34.37 million was paid to the federal government between 2012 and 2016. — Bernama