ISKANDAR PUTERI, Jan 15 — Johor’s Iskandar Malaysia has attracted a total of RM32.23 billion in new investments last year, said Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) chief executive Datuk Ismail Ibrahim.

He said with the figure, Iskandar Malaysia is expected to reach the targeted investment of RM383 billion by 2025.

"With the new investment Iskandar Malaysia recorded RM285.34 billion in total cumulative committed investments from 2006 to 31 December 2018.

"Of the total cumulative committed investment, local investors contributed RM177 billion or 62 per cent while the remaining RM108 billion (38 per cent) was contributed by foreign investors,” said Ismail at the first anniversary celebration of IskandarSpace, a co-working space in Medini Iskandar here, today.

Ismail said six service sectors, namely tourism, education, finance, health, creative and logistics, recorded a growth of 16 per cent from 2017 to 2018.

"Last year alone, the tourism sector recorded a total investment of RM1.94 billion and RM940 million for education,” he said.

Ismail added the total figures recorded by the two sectors will be able to attract entrepreneurs, especially young people to start their business in Iskandar Malaysia.

Iskandar Malaysia’s initial aim was to achieve RM176 billion over a 10-year period from 2013-2022. The newly recorded investment has surpassed the target, with another three years to go.