Property Hunter Magazine August Issue 2014 | Page 44

/// West Malaysia Property News

Singapore Tops Foreign Investor in Iskandar
Malaysia With RM11 Billion Committed
Investments

Source : MIDA Statistics as at June ‘13, IRDA
Singapore continues to be the top
foreign investor in Iskandar Malaysia
with committed investments of
RM11 billion up to April this year.
Iskandar Regional Development
Authority Chief Executive, Datuk
Ismail Ibrahim, said from 2006 up
to end-April, the economic corridor
has attracted a total of RM138.61
billion in committed investments, of
which 45 per cent of them had been
realised.
“Singapore is currently the highest
foreign investor in Iskandar. We are
looking at creative industry, other
manufacturing activities, oleochemicals, logistics and food agriculture
processing.
“We will be making the announcement when the time comes,” he said
when asked on other new investments in the pipeline.
Ismail told reporters this after the
groundbreaking ceremony for
Nusajaya Tech Park here Thursday
(June 12).
Meanwhile, Minister of International Trade and Industry, Datuk
Seri Mustapa Mohamed, said the
joint-venture project between UEM
Sunrise Bhd and Ascendas Pte Ltd
was a testimony to the long bilateral
relationship between the two countries.

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“This will bring about closer cooperation. The park will also be among the
key drivers for growth for Iskandar
Malaysia moving forward,” he said,
adding that it would result in spin-off
activities and win-win collaborations
between the two countries.
He said Iskandar Malaysia continued
to drive strong interest from foreign
investors, especially Singaporean
companies, due to its proximity
and strategic location to ports and
airports.
Until December last year, 969
manufacturing projects had been
implemented in Iskandar Malaysia
with investments of RM46 billion,
of which 75 per cent of them were
foreign investments.
Meanwhile, Singapore’s Trade and
Industry Minister, Lim Hng Kiang,
in his speech earlier, said Iskandar
Malaysia was strategically important
for both countries as it not only
contributed to greater cooperation
between Malaysia and Singapore
but also the integration of both
economies.
In the morning, Mustapa and Lim
held bilateral talks for an hour,
discussing the progress of the two
countries’ Industrial Cooperation
Working Group as well as regional
issues such as Regional Cooperation
Economic Partnership and Asean
Economic Community.

Stringent Loan Policy Stifles Sale of Bumi
Housing Quota in Melaka

The stringent housing loan policy
by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM)
is among the factors that make it
difficult for developers to sell the
Bumiputera housing quota units,
leading to a glut in such units
especially in this state.
The Real Estate and Housing
Developers’ Association (Rehda)
Melaka Chairman Datuk Anthony
Adam Cho Tian Han said the
policy also indirectly restricted
the Bumiputera buyers in the
middle-income group earning
between RM2,000 and RM5,000
a month from owning the unsold
Bumiputera housing units which
are priced at RM250,000 and
above.
In this regard, he said BNM was
urged to review the housing loan
policy to ensure that developers
were able to sell Bumiputera quota
housing units.
“Rehda has tried to discuss with
Bank Negara to address this issue,
however, with the introduction
of new policies that are more
stringent for housing loans, this
problem is difficult to resolve.
“Additionally, Bank Negara is
controlling the inflationary
pressure, besides the new policies
have given an impact on the
property sector,” he told a media
conference in conjunction with
Malaysia Property Exhibition
(Mapex) 2014 in Melaka on Friday
(June 20).
The three-day expo was
participated by 27 property
developers promoting 4,223

properties in Melaka, Negeri
Sembilan and Penang worth over
RM1.7 billion.
Cho said the unsold Bumiputera
quota units had caused developers
to incur losses and they were not
able to continue und \