Turning Johor into investment magnet

Good amenities such as Port of Tanjung Pelepas in Gelang Patah help attract investors to Johor. — Filepic

Exco: State in ‘sweet spot’ to benefit from a number of Federal Government policies

Federal Government’s New Industrial Master Plan 2030 (NIMP 2030), which is an industrial policy for the manufacturing and manufacturing-related services sector, can help the state realise its Maju Johor 2030 vision.

Johor investment, trade, and consumer affairs committee chairman Lee Ting Han said paired with the National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR), the policies would make the state a strategic area for investors.

“The government, through the Mid-Term Review of 12th Malaysia Plan 2021-2025, has made it clear that the country will now focus on high-growth, high-value sectors,” he said.

He added that this included digitalisation, electrical and electronics (E&E) ecosystem, renewable energy, electric vehicles (EV) and agriculture.

“These are in line with the state’s effort under Maju Johor 2030 vision, which also supports NIMP 2030 and NETR.

“This means Johor is in a sweet spot to benefit from all of these policies,” he said.

Maju Johor 2030 has six key strategic thrusts – good governance, sustainable economic development, enhancing social safety net, improving facilities and basic amenities, security, cleanliness and the environment, and special focus on the youth.

Lee said the state government had also proven that this vision was achievable through the development of data centres and supporting industries in the E&E ecosystem.

Lee says Malaysia is now focused on high-growth, high-value sectors.

He said they had proposed the same ideas to the Investment, Trade and Industry Ministry after they achieved RM70.6bil in investment last year.

“Johor is also poised for infrastructure development for EVs and oil and gas terminals, based on meetings with giant industry players such as Tesla and PETRONAS.

“These companies have also given their assurance to help other similar companies invest in Johor,” he added.

Lee said the state’s strategic geographical location was one of its main selling points.

“We also have amenities such as Tanjung Pelepas Port, one of the busiest ports in the region and located right next to Singapore.

“I believe with these policies and initiatives, Malaysia, especially Johor, would be able to give assurance to investors and industry players to continue investing in the country.”

Lee said Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) recently reported that Johor had recorded a committed investment of RM14.2bil with 422 projects approved and 6,898 committed job opportunities in the second quarter of 2023.

For the manufacturing sector, Lee said the top contributing countries were the US (RM1bil), and Singapore (RM647mil) while domestic investors stood at RM1.1bil.

The top three sub-sectors, he said, were E&E (RM1.3bil), non-metallic mineral products (RM665mil) and fabricated metal products (RM387mil).

“As for the services sector, the top contributing countries are China, Singapore and Hong Kong. The top contributing sub-sectors are ICT and related services (data centres) and green technology and logistic services.”