Iskandar Malaysia’s property sector has slowed down recently but other sectors, manufacturing in particular, continue to perform well according to the Iskandar Regional Development Authority IRDA). With sales success stories both domestically and overseas, the IRDC isn’t worried about downtown in the region’s property sector.
“Over the past nine years, Iskandar Malaysia has been growing with consistency and quality, I think that is foremost in our mind,” IRDA Chief Executive Datuk Ismail Ibrahim told Malaysian state media agency, Bernama. “This consistency and quality shows that Iskandar Malaysia continues to be competitive as we are able to present it in terms of the many elements that make this region attractive for investment, for work as well as for living.”
Ismail added that one of Iskandar’s biggest challenges was balancing development with maintaining the green agenda and sustainability.
“During the early days, the challenge was mainly to win the hearts and minds of the people and the business community, to convince them that Iskandar Malaysia was ‘the thing’ for them,” he noted. “The challenge today is really about how to convince people on what more is coming for them in Iskandar Malaysia (and) what more the government is going to build, in terms of the ecosystem that makes Iskandar Malaysia more competitive,” he said.
There are a few economic sectors are already moving under their own momentum, but others have stalled and now have some catching up to do. “The (sectors) that have been experiencing growth consistently are tourism, education and healthcare. We have now almost completely covered the second phase of Iskandar Malaysia’s roadmap,” Ismail said to Bernama.
He believes three more sectors – creative, logistics and oil and oleochemicals – are likely to become a bigger factor in Iskandar during the next couple of years. The other three sectors completing the total of nine under the Iskandar Malaysia masterplan are electrical and electronics; food and agro processing; and financial services. Ismail states these sectors will not get going for a few more years.
Critics of Iskandar say the project is jeopardising Kuala Lumpur’s present role in the Malaysian economy, according to Bernama. Ismail countered by saying the economic region offered an opportunity to create an alternative for the business community.
