"Malaysia Would Benefit from Its Southern State Dyamic Development"

MUAR (Johor, Malaysia), June 9 (Bernama) -- Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said Malaysia as a whole would feel the positive impact of the dynamic development taking place in Johor currently. The multi-billion ringgit development in Johor, the southern state of peninsular Malaysia, also proved that the state and Malaysia is still one of the main foreign investment destination within the Asean region. "Investors are still keen to come to Johor and Malaysia, making us one of the main investment destination in Asean. We believe Johor's fast growth would help the growth of the country as a whole," he said here on Saturday. He was speaking to reporters after the launch of a Johor Risda programme at Sarang Buaya Square, Pagoh, which was also attended by Rural and Regional Development minister, Shafie Apdal. Muhyiddin, who is also Education minister, said Johor's pace of development would help the nation reach its six per cent annual growth target and allow it to achieve developed nation status by 2020. He cited the Iskandar Malaysia project in southern Johor as an example, saying it managed to attract both domestic and foreign investments. Since its launch at the end of 2006, the project has brought in RM83 billion (US$26.07 billion) with a large part of the sum in various stages of process. Apart from this, he said Johor also received huge investments from national petroleum company, Petronas, for the Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (Rapid) project in Pengerang. Rapid was launched by Prime Minister Najib Razak last month and is set to receive a total of RM120 billion (US$37.7 billion) and create about 40,000 job opportunities. Apart from Petronas, several local and foreign oil and gas companies such as Dialog Group Berhad and Taiwanese investors have agreed to invest in Rapid as well, he added. "With all the development being experienced in the country, I'm confident that we can achieve the six per cent annual growth target," he said. Even though Risda farmers were only small scale, they still made a big and valuable contribution to the country amounting to about 90 per cent of the country's rubber production, said the Deputy Prime Minister. He advised them to utilise the facilities provided by Risda and other agencies to progress. Apart from being small holders, Muhyiddin said they could become small and medium entrepreneurs (SMEs) to increase their income from different sources. -- BERNAMA