Iskandar Malaysia secures new investments of RM10.85b (Updated)

JOHOR BARU: Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) chief executive Datuk Ismail Ibrahim is positive that the State can achieve its annual target of RM25 billion investments for this year.
He said Iskandar Malaysia secured new investments of RM10.85 billion in the third quarter of this year.
"This brought the total cumulative committed investments secured to RM218.84 billion from 2006 until Sept 30," he said in a statement today.
Of the investments, he said, RM113.36 billion or 52% represented what had been realised as projects on the ground.
He added the manufacturing sector still remains an important sector, from the RM218.84 billion.
Giving the breakdown of the investment, he said:
>> Promoted sectors in Iskandar Malaysia including Manufacturing: RM 56.03 billion (26.0%) Logistics: RM 6.15 billion (3.0%) Healthcare: RM 3.16 billion (1.0%) Tourism: RM 3.37 billion (2.0%) Education: RM 2.07 billion (1.0%) Creative: RM 0.56 billion Financial Services: RM 1.84 billion and
>> Supporting sectors such as Residential properties: RM 42.92 billion (20%) Utilities: RM 12.97 billion (6 %) Retail properties: RM 58.20 billion (27.0%) Industrial properties: RM 18.89 billion (9.0%) Emerging Technologies: RM 2.85 billion (1.0%) and Government (Infrastructure): RM 9.83 billion (4.0%).
He said the Federal Government has allocated RM2.1 billion for infrastructure and socio-economic development in the economic corridors including Iskandar Malaysia in the 2017 Budget which will help to boost the economy in the region.
He added the economic corridor also created a total of 682,169 jobs since 2007, of which 15% were skilled jobs.
Johor has also enjoyed an increase in average household monthly income – from RM4,658 in 2012 to RM6,207 in 2014.
Earlier, IRDA had lowered its target to RM25 billion this year from the RM30 billion investment secured last year due to slowing global economic growth.
China remains the top five countries with highest investments into Iskandar Malaysia from January to September 2016 , after Singapore, USA, Japan and Spain.
However, the corridor has a very strong local presence due to domestic investments made up RM132.13 billion or 60% of the total cumulative committed investments to date.
Irda is celebrating its 10th anniversary of the establishment of Iskandar Malaysia in Johor through various programmes.