Chew showing a photo of her old hawker stall which was in front of her house in Batu Kawan village. Now she has a booming restaurant business, partly thanks to the development in the area. — Filepic
IN the early 1990s, Chew Seok Ching was a hawker selling char koay teow, laksa and ais kacang from a stall outside her village home in Batu Kawan, Penang.
After several years of hardship, she saved enough to open a seafood restaurant in 1995, the first in the constituency.
As the area was still undeveloped and little-known back then, those patronising Yen Seafood Restaurant were only from the neighbourhood.
It is a different story now, though.
The increase in population, thanks to new housing developments and a thriving industrial sector, has seen her business boom.
Besides the working class nearby, local tourists too have been patronising her restaurant, especially during long weekends.
“Before this, one had to go through dirt paths to come to my restaurant. But now the road is widened and tarred. It’s now easier to reach my eatery,” said Chew.
Indeed, the area is growing.
Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow had said the mainland would become the catalyst for the state’s growth in the future.
And Batu Kawan, he added, would be one of the areas that would help Seberang Prai develop, as many industries are focused in that area.
The jewel of the crown is the new township of Bandar Cassia, which is seen as a magnet for residential, commercial and industrial sectors.
The game changer, of course, was the setting up of Batu Kawan Industrial Park (BKIP), which welcomed multinational firms as well as large-scale projects by developers such as Aspen Vision Group, Eco World Development Group, Paramount Corporation Bhd and state-owned Penang Development Corporation (PDC).
Industrial growth within BKIP over the past 10 years has brought thousands of job opportunities to Batu Kawan.
BKIP’s rapid growth was recorded in a study on “Trend of Investments” by Penang Institute socioeconomics and statistics senior analyst Dr Lee Siu Ming.
“Investments in BKIP consist of a combination of foreign direct investments (FDI) and domestic direct investments in promoted sectors, especially in electrical and electronics, machinery and equipment and medical technology.
“The multiplier effect of record-high approved FDI reported in 2019 and several mainly high-technology projects in the past few years is expected to spur the growth and development of local firms,” he said in the report published in February 2021.
Among the major companies which invested in BKIP between 2011 to 2020 are Micron (RM1.5bil), Hotayi Electronic (RM1bil), Lam Research (RM1bil), Boon Siew Honda (RM188mil), Iconic Medicare (RM155mil), UWC Holdings (RM150mil), Towam (RM100mil), Hewlett-Packard Malaysia Manufacturing, Boston Scientific Medical Device, Bosch Automotive and five goldsmith and jewellery manufacturing companies under the Penang Goldsmith Association.
The education sector has not been left out as growing industries would create more demand for skilled talents to fill vacancies.
Peninsula College, the education arm of PKT Logistics Group, aims to satisfy these manpower needs.
It is expecting to enrol 4,000 students at The Ship Campus by 2025 and to roll out 1,000 graduates yearly.
As the first-ever campus in Penang to be located inside an industrial park, it provides not just classroom education but experience through on-site job training.
The group’s chief executive and managing director Datuk Seri Dr Michael Tio said that while the campus focuses on courses related to business and logistics, courses on computer science and engineering were also being offered to complement current needs.
“We have started with 200 students and are looking to recruit 1,000 students yearly.
“With 4,000 capacity, the campus is expected to be filled by 2025,” he said.
Tio said the campus, by partnering with England’s University of Plymouth on a wide spectrum of subjects, expects its graduates to leave an impact on the industrial park in Batu Kawan.
“Here, through collaboration with over 25 companies, students get to study and work while being paid wages,” he said.
Besides serving as an educational institution, the campus is also offering training and hostel accommodation for 1,600 people.
“We are collaborating with agencies such as Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers, Malaysian Investment Development Authority and InvestPenang,” he added.
