JOHOR BAHRU (Jan 8): The Iskandar Development Regional Authority (IRDA) has set a new cumulative investment target for Iskandar Malaysia of RM636 billion by 2030, after the initial target set during the inception of the economic region was surpassed successfully.
Its chief executive Datuk Dr Badrul Hisham Kassim said the region had recorded total cumulative investments of RM409.5 billion since the establishment of Iskandar Malaysia in 2006 till September last year, exceeding the initial target of RM383 billion that the IRDA had aimed for based on the Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) 2006 to 2025.
He said the RM383 billion target, which was recorded in February last year, was achieved almost three years ahead of the 19-year-long target, showing that Iskandar Malaysia and Malaysia’s offering of various competitive advantages continue to attract investors’ interest and trust in the country.
“This gives us the confidence to double our cumulative investment target by 2030, which we stamped in our latest CDPiii Iskandar Malaysia 2022-2030.
“At the end of the next seven years, we are targeting to achieve RM636 billion in cumulative investments and we believe that this is possible, especially with the full support of the government through the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone and the Special Financial Zone initiatives, as announced by the government recently,” he said in a statement here on Monday.
Badrul Hisham said both the special economic and financial zones would play a big role in the future of Iskandar Malaysia.
He said Iskandar Malaysia recorded committed investments of RM33.6 billion from January to September last year, with RM11 billion having been realised.
“The main contributors are from the business services sector, which includes investments in regional data centres amounting to RM22.4 billion; and the manufacturing sector, with RM7.7 billion,” he added.
Apart from this, Badrul Hisham said the IRDA has also projected around 400,000 new jobs to be created in Iskandar Malaysia between 2020 and 2030, resulting in total employment of nearly 1.4 million by 2030.
