Investors should look to Kelantan to grow their business opportunities

KUALA LUMPUR: Investors, who are seeking to expand beyond saturated markets, should consider Kelantan as a location of their business as it is aggressively pursuing mega projects, as well as looking for investors to operate its gold mines.

Mazli Zakuan Mohd Noor, group deputy chief executive officer for Corporate Affairs of the Kelantan State Economic Development Corporation, said Kelantan is an untapped market offering tremendous opportunities, as well as room for companies to grow.

“Kelantan is not only offering the opportunity to house your business operations, but also financial facilities, including the Domestic Investment Strategic Fund (DISF), which is under utilised, to help investors fund their project,” he told a press conference after delivering a presentation on business opportunities in the state yesterday.

The presentation was part of Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA)’s invest series: unfolding states’ business, potential, briefing on investment opportunities in Kelantan.

Mazli Zakuan said the the state was also looking for investors to jointly operate its six gold mines.

“Investors and everyone else should know that Kelantan’s gold reserves are huge, and these reflect the opportunities available for operators (in Kelantan),” he said.

Meanwhile, Mazli cited the Pasir Mas Halal Park, Tok Bali Industrial Park, Sungai Terah Modern Islamic City, a new township, and mixed development in Sungai Bagan as mega projects that were being developed in the state.

He said they were expected to have spillover effect on the domestic market as the state’s policy specified that 30 per cent of the works on the mega projects needed to be handled by local players.

On another note, he said as at September 2017, Kelantan approved 292 manufacturing projects worth RM6.48 billion, of which 78 per cent or RM5.04 billion derived from domestic sources.

MIDA Investment Promotion Executive Director Arham Abdul Rahman said the ratio of domestic investors, as well as foreign investors in Kelantan would not change drastically.

He said, however, the agency had been actively discussing with investors from China, Japan and European countries who showed strong interest to set up business in Kelantan.

“This signifies that the interests were there. However, we have yet to finalise the deals,” he said, adding that for example, the Pasir Mas Halal Park could potentially attract RM611 million in private investments and create 4,200 jobs by 2020. — Bernama