Lumut Maritime Industrial City in the works

PETALING JAYA: An Integrated Maritime Industrial Cluster within the district of Manjung in Perak is being planned, following an agreement that has been signed between Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Perak (PKNP) and the Port of Antwerp-Bruges International (PoABI), which is a subsidiary of the Port of Antwerp-Bruges.

In a statement, PKNP said this will see the establishment of the Lumut Maritime Industrial City (LuMIC), focusing on industries involved in the maritime and logistics sectors, as well as those directly involved in international trade routes.

An estimated RM72bil is set to be invested in this new development over the next 25 years, it said.

“As a state economic development corporation, this is part of our strategic plans to transform Lumut into a modern and sustainable township.

“LuMIC is set to be an engine of growth for Perak and the Northern Corridor Economic Region, driven by private sector participation via both foreign and domestic direct investment, special economic zone incentives and strong industry-academia collaboration,” said PKNP’s chief executive Datuk Redza Rafiq Abdul Razak.

“Capitalising on Perak’s vast mineral deposits and the current economic activities in Lumut, maritime-related facilities will be further developed within LuMIC based on interested investors or vendors’ requirements, such as industrial complexes, warehousing facilities and multipurpose terminals, amongst others,” he added.

Redza Rafiq also said one of the proposals for LuMIC entails establishing full-fledged terminal facilities to serve the industries within the hub, across Perak and serving as a gateway to the Asian region.

The establishment of LuMIC will entail the development of an exclusive maritime zone in Perak, providing tax and non-tax incentives to investors.

This would see LuMIC unlocking value creation for high-value and future-ready segments.

The development, operations and governance of LuMIC will be presided over by a state development authority under PKNP to ensure seamless operations, it said.

“With LuMIC, we envision the creation of a new global hub within the Straits of Melaka.

“This builds on the exciting prospects of the existing Lumut Port Industrial Park, in which 91 companies are already operating, with 15,000 jobs created to date and generating an annual turnover of RM2.2bil,” Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad said.