Need for more industrial parks

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JOHOR BARU: Property developers in Iskandar Malaysia have been urged to venture into industrial park projects to cater for the surge in demand for industrial properties here.

Johor executive councillor for International Trade and Industry Tan Kok Hong said it was timely for developers to focus on this segment apart from the residential properties area.

“Johor is still strong in the manufacturing sector and it remains one of the top three destinations for foreign direct investments (FDIs) in the country,” he said.

Good move: Mohd Roslan (second from right) exchanging the signed documents with Wong (second from left) while Tan (centre), Mohd Nizam and Tan Siew Peng (left) look on.

Tan said this at the signing ceremony between Telekom Malaysia Bhd and UMLand Bhd’s subsidiary Dynasty View Sdn Bhd for the deployment and provision of TM’s high speed broadband (HSBB) network infrastructure and services.

TM was represented by its Johor vice-president Mohd Roslan Mohd Rashidi and assistant general manager of SME Mohd Nizam Mohd Yunan while Dynasty View by its general manager Wong Kuen Kong and assistant general manager of finance Tan Siew Ping.

He said with Singapore focusing on the service sector, many of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and big manufacturers in the republic were looking elsewhere to relocate their operations.

“Logically, Johor Baru is the best choice for them due to its proximity to Singapore and they could have the best of both worlds in two countries,” added Tan.

He said the cost of doing business in Johor Baru was relatively cheaper compared with the high overhead costs in Singapore and the republic also facing space constraint to build new industrial parks.

Tan said new industrial parks within Iskandar Malaysia such as the Senai Hi-Tech Park, Setia Business Park, Tanjung Langsat, IOI Kempas Utama, Southern Industrial Logistic and Cluster were doing well.

He said apart from the Singapore-based companies, many SMEs from Japan, Europe and the USA had shown interest to relocate their operations to Iskandar Malaysia.

“We can expect more Japanese manufacturers to set up their operations here within the next one or two years following the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters there,” said Tan.

He said in order to attract more foreign manufacturers to Johor; new industrial parks must be equipped with the HSBB network services as well as upgrading the existing industrial parks with the infrastructure.