JOHOR BHARU, Oct 21 — Iskandar Malaysia has recorded total cumulative committed investments of RM128.21 billion since its inception in 2006 until September this year, said Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.
“Some 44 per cent or RM55.81 billion of these investments have already been realised. This shows that domestic and foreign investors are contributing real economic value to the country,” he said at the launch of BioMalaysia and BioEconomy Asia Pacific 2013 here today.
Malaysian investors contributed RM83.40 billion (65 per cent) of the cumulative committed investments while the balance of RM44.81 billion (35 per cent) came from foreign investors.
The top five countries with highest investments in Iskandar Malaysia for the January-June 2013 period were Singapore, Spain, Japan, the United States and the Netherlands, said Mohamed Khaled, who is co-chairman of Iskandar Region Development Authority (IRDA).
While manufacturing recorded the highest cumulative committed investments at RM45.68 billion, he said there were increasing investments in other sectors including electric and electronics, petrochemical and oleo-chemical and food and agro-processing.
This is followed by logistics (RM4.81 billion), tourism (RM2.50 billion), healthcare (RM2.59 billion), education (RM1.56 billion), financial services (RM0.6 billion) and creative industries (RM0.4 billion).
Other sectors that support the growth of the region include property development, in which the residential, retail and industrial segments collectively contributed cumulative investments of RM48.09 billion as at June this year.
This was followed y utilities at RM12.64 billion, government investment mainly in infrastructure and public works (RM8.31 billion) and emerging technologies (RM1.03 billion), said Mohamed Khaled.
IRDA chief executive Datuk Ismail Ibrahim told reporters after the ceremony that Iskandar Malaysia was enroute to achieving its targeted investments of RM22 billion for this year. He said the economic corridor might surpass its targeted investment for 2013.
“Up until the third quarter of this year, we are already hitting slightly above the RM20 billion mark, so we are optimistic of achieving that figure (RM22 billion) and surpass it,” he said.
Due to the escalated investments figure for Iskandar Malaysia, Ismail anticipated there was a need for the economic corridor to increase its annual investment target.
The increase in the annual investment targets, he said, would ensure Iskandar Malaysia achieve its target of attracting RM383 billion in total investments by 2035.
The increased target to RM24-RM25 billion in investments annually for Iskandar Malaysia would begin in 2018 until the economic corridor achieve its maturity stage in 2025, Ismail added. — Bernama
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