TANJUNG PIAI, April 19 — Petroleum Nasional Berhad (Petronas) has sealed its major oil and gas deal in Johor’s Pengerang after receiving US$7 billion (RM28 billion) from their partners Saudi Aramco.
Caretaker prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the money has already been deposited to Petronas’ account late last month, and Johor folks will reap the benefit from it now.
“This project will help generate thousands of jobs and Johor will be the new economic powerhouse for Malaysia,” he said during a “Meet the People” gathering at Dataran Kukup here.
Najib, who is also Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman, said the Johor state government held by the coalition had long-term plans to make the state an economic powerhouse to compete with Singapore.
He said a cooperation between the state and Putrajaya under BN will allow for the implementation of projects that would benefit the public.
On February, Aramco signed a deal with Petronas to invest US$7 billion for a 50 per cent stake in its Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) project.
Also present at the event were caretaker Johor mentri besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin and Tanjung Piai Umno chief Datuk Md Othman Yusof.
More than 3,000 people, mainly women, turned-up for the event that saw Najib being ushered by a traditional Indian reception, a Malay silat troupe and a Chinese Lion dance troupe.
In his speech, Najib also hit out at the Opposition’s manifesto, which he claimed was unrealistic due to the abolishment of the tolls and replacing Goods and Service Tax (GST) with Sales and Service Tax (SST) for the first 100 days if they managed to form the next government.
He also urged local BN leaders to go all out and win back the Pekan Nenas state seat which they lost in 2013.
“I want the people of Tanjung Piai to give BN a ‘3-0’ result denoting the Tanjung Piai parliamentary constituency and its Pekan Nenas and Kukup state seats,” he said.
Najib later approved a budget of RM6 million for programmes including RM3 million for farmers and fishermen, and another RM3 million for ethnic Chinese traders in Kukup.
“At the same time, the government will also undertake to expand and improve the Pontian Hospital which can be used for both the Pontian and Tanjung Piai communities.
“The project will take place within the next one to five years,” he said.
