Najib unveils 7 new ETP projects

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak unveiled seven all-new
projects today to further strengthen the continued interest of investors
in the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), which has to date
garnered RM106.405 billion in investments, RM153.83 billion in Gross
National Income (GNI) and 298,865 new jobs.

The 72 projects
within 54 Entry Point Projects (EPPs) announced to date, means that 41.2
per cent of the 131 EPPs have commenced, all in less than six months
since the ETP was launched.

"Now, that is big results fast," he said when announcing the latest investment projects.

Also
present was Minister of International Trade and Industry, Datuk Seri
Mustapa Mohamad and PEMANDU chief executive officer, Datuk Seri Idris
Jala.




Among the latest projects are Infineon Technologies will invest RM480
million to expand and upgrade its production capacity, research and
development and manufacturing facilities in Malacca.

Pensonic
Holdings Sdn Bhd''s establishment of the electrical home appliances
manufacturing hub and international distribution network in Penang, will
involve a total investment of RM250 million.

To enhance the
efficiency of container clearance by reducing the queuing time at
Customs checkpoints, improving security through the automatic detection
of a compromised or open container, and optimising human resources for
better services, RM45 million will be invested to provide the Radio
Frequency Identification (RFID) infrastructure.

The RFID will enable security and automation of paperless Royal Malaysian Customs checkpoints throughout Malaysia.

MYLED
MASTER Sdn Bhd and its subsidiary, MYLED Opto Technology Sdn Bhd, will
be expanding their manufacturing capability in the green technology
sector.

Located in Malacca with an investment of RM175 million,
this production facility is set to meet the growing demand for solid
state lighting, both locally and in overseas market such as India and
the Middle East in two years time, said Najib, who is also the Finance
Minister.

In addition, it will also house research and
development operations, where innovation and creativity will help to
bring costs down further. It is expected to have a GNI impact of RM100
million and create up to 900 jobs.

Asia Media will invest RM500 million in developing the first Digital Live Transit-TV Broadcasting infrastructure in Malaysia.

This
mobile broadcast network in public transportation falls squarely within
the Communications Content and Infrastructure (CCI) NKEA.

"By
adopting international broadcasting standard infrastructure, the
organisation will be capable of delivering live video and voice to the
transit industry such as the Light Rapid Transit, bus network and
perhaps even, the Mass Rapid Transit in the future.

"This project is expected to generate RM604 million in GNI and about 400 jobs," he said.

Najib
said as the government has begun to look into e-government and
paperless initiatives in a bid to be a more environmentally friendly and
modern, the next initiative, which also falls within the CCI NKEA, is a
baseline study on e-counter services and paperless government.

The
project aims to establish baseline measurements on government
initiatives for the improvement of services, specifically in the
transformation towards an electronic government (EG) and going
paperless.

Managed by the Malaysia Administrative Modernisation
And Management Planning Unit (MAMPU) and Government Integrated
Telecommunications Network (GITN), the project involves data collection
and an analysis of e-counter services, electronic transactions and
paperless government initiatives in the public sector, an assessment of
government agencies’ data centres as well as network infrastructure and
services.

Once completed, it will ensure that services provided
by the government are more transparent, fit-for-purpose, efficient and
effective to the Rakyat. The government will invest RM3.261 million in
the project that will see the creation of 155 jobs.
He said the CCI
NKEA is also kick-starting a government initiative to provide a unique
and official email account and identification for citizens of Malaysia.

The
prime minister said with a GNI impact of RM39 million up to 2015, this
1MY email initiative will allow direct and secure communications between
Malaysian citizens and the government, as well as enhance the delivery
of government services to consumers and businesses alike.

Tricubes
Bhd will spearhead this RM50 million investment which also includes the
development of a web portal, an email account for all Malaysian
citizens aged 18 and above, a one-stop centre for government services,
provision of value-added services such as social networking, checking
bills online as well as payment, in addition to web development toolkits
for citizens and business entities to creatively develop applications.

As
for education, he said , the International Islamic University Malaysia
will spearhead an initiative to develop and position Malaysia as one of
the world’s leading Islamic finance education hubs.

It will
invest RM3.17 million to set up the Islamic Finance and Banking
education cluster that will develop and harmonise globally accepted
curricula in Islamic Finance-related areas.

It will also
establish the Association for Islamic Finance Advancement (AIFA), which
will accredit programmes as well as advance and promote Islamic Finance
education globally.

With a GNI impact of RM1.2 billion by 2020, it will see the creation of about 4,300 related jobs.
Tourism continues to be a solid income earner for the country.

In
Sabah, a consortium comprising Prism Crystal Enterprises Ltd, Tan Sri
Dr Chen Lip Keong and group of companies together with landowners,
Karambunai Corp Bhd and Petaling Tin Bhd, will develop the Karambunai
Integrated Resort City (KIRC) with an investment of RM 9.6 billion.

Contributing
a GNI of about RM9.319 billion by 2020 and creating about 11,002 jobs
by then, this premier world-class ecotourism destination will leverage
on Malaysia’s competitive advantages in ecotourism and biodiversity, and
feature tourism, health and eco-nature edutainment recreation
facilities, he said.

This will also include a water theme park,
water spectacles and fountain, cable car, mangrove research centre,
harbour cruise, aqua and spa village amongst others.

Led by the
Federal Agriculture Marketing Authority (FAMA), the "Pasar Komuniti"
initiative (PAKAR) is a concerted effort to co-ordinate and amalgamate
them in location with better facilities.

"With an investment of
RM50 million, PAKAR will not only benefit the entrepreneurs but also the
consumers, who will experience convenience and comfortable shopping
within a solid and fixed structure," Najib said.

This project will contribute RM3.52 billion in GNI annually by 2020 and create 56,400 jobs. – Bernama