IrDA’s multiple key roles
ISKANDAR Malaysia is into its 10th year as the country’s first economic growth corridor. Its stakeholders are urged to work even harder to continue attracting domestic and foreign investors.
Iskandar Regional Development Authority ( IRDA) chief executive officer Datuk Ismail Ibrahim says the place has to stay attractive and remain relevant. “The key for Iskandar Malaysia now is to ensure its further growth and progress,” he says.
Since its inception on Nov 4, 2006, Iskandar Malaysia has recorded a total committed investments of RM187.96bil as of Nov 30, 2015, of which RM93.38bil has been realised as projects on the ground.
Of the committed investments, RM111.82bil or 59% is domestic investments while RM76.14bil or 41% comes from foreign investors.
IRDA is the regulatory authority given the mandate to plan, promote and facilitate the development of Iskandar Malaysia into a strong and sustainable metropolis of international standing by 2025.
Ismail describes the committed investments as commendable in view of uncertainties in the global economic growth and also competition from rival countries.
“We are targeting between RM25bil and RM30bil investment for 2016, but the competition is becoming more challenging.
“Having started much earlier, Iskandar Malaysia has the competitive edge as we are investment climate- ready, but we are not resting on our laurels,” he says.
Ismail adds that despite getting strong interest from domestic investors, IRDA will continue to woo foreign investors, especially from Asean countries, China and India.
He points out that IRDA does not specifically categorise its investor strategies into foreign or domestic.
Instead, it aims at value proposition strategies and incentives to attract investors and is able to increase its market and avoid being dependent on just a selected few, says Ismail.
Quality and long- term investments
“We want quality and long- term investments to support the key economic sectors, not investors looking to make quick money and exit the scene early in the game,” he adds.
On that note, Ismail says IRDA will from time to time review its investment strategies in tandem with the global economic scenario and landscape and make some changes to suit the investment climate.
Mentri Besar Datuk Mohamed Khaled Nordin says the country’s first economic growth corridor has the right ecosystem and ingredients to draw investments.
He says potential investors will take into consideration certain factors before making a decision, including the confidence level and how they will benefit from their investments.
Mohamed Khaled, who is also co- chairman of IRDA, says more efforts will be needed to continue attracting investments into Iskandar Malaysia.
He says this is because it will be more challenging for Johor to attract new investments in years to come but Mohamed Khaled is optimistic that Johor will remain attractive to investors.
“Iskandar Malaysia’s strengths are its strategic location, good infrastructure and incentives for investors,” adds Mohamed Khaled. He says Johor drew the highest total approved investments in the manufacturing activities nationwide at RM30bil last year.
The figure does not include the RM6bil investment for the upcoming global data hub centre in Sedenak.
In 2014, Johor received RM21.1bil investments in the manufacturing sector from RM14.4bil received by the state in 2013.
Proactive measures
“We will continue to adopt proactive measures to attract investors and transform the state as the leading manufacturing hub in the region,” says Mohamed Khaled.
He says all stakeholders will have to work even harder and put in more efforts to further develop and transform Johor as the leading manufacturing hub.
Mohamed Khaled says the establishment of the Johor State Investment Centre is to improve the overall business and this will further enhance the mutual beneficial relationship shared by the state and businesses.
IrDA is the regulatory authority given the mandate to plan, promote and facilitate the development of Iskandar Malaysia into a strong and sustainable metropolis of international standing by 2025.