KUALA LUMPUR: Over RM48.6bil in investments have been committed by local and foreign investors to set up various kinds of industries at the East Coast Economic Region (ECER) which is touted to be the "Klang Valley of the east coast."

The foreign investors are from several countries including China, the United States, Germany, Australia, France, South Korea and Japan.

Some of the corporations investing in ECER include China Shougang, HTVB, Arkema, CJ, Gevo, Huntsman Tioxide, BP, Eastman, Basf Petronas Chemicals, Grace, Sarku Marine, Suzuki, Kaneka Corp, and Johnson Controls for various businesses including steel mills, iron ore plants, car plants, biopolymer and petrochemicals units.

"We are in various stages of discussions with more investors and expect RM11bil in investments this year," said Datuk Jebasingam Issace John, the CEO of East Coast Economic Region Development Council (ECERDC), which is the body undertaking the development.

"The private sector will lead the development and once fully developed, it should be like the west coast's Klang Valley. That will give rise to jobs and stop the migration of people out of the states to other regions for jobs," he told StarBiz.

ECER's overall target is RM112bil in investments to create 500,000 jobs and with RM48.6bil, "we are near the halfway mark", said Jebasingam.

ECER, which was mooted in 2007, will create economic activities and jobs in the manufacturing, tourism, agriculture and petrochemical sectors.

There will be several special economic zones (SEZ) in the four states, namely Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and Johor (Mersing area). Infrastructure by road, air, sea and rail will be enhanced for better connectivity.

"It is part of the country's transformation agenda to address the regional economic imbalance in infrastructure, social and community development and to encourage investment flow into the east coast.

"The (east coast) region has to grow faster than the national GDP, and as such to address that, we need to accelerate the development within this region via high-impact projects. We want to brand ECER as an investment destination,'' Jebasingam (pic) said.

Last year, ECERDC managed to secure RM37bil in investments that created 30,000 jobs. With RM48.6bil committed, nearly 40,000 jobs will be created.

Of the amount committed, RM22.7bil is for Pahang, RM18.6bil Terengganu, RM5.7bil Kelantan and the remaining RM1.6bil in Mersing.

The east coast states are famous for petrochemical industries, which will be enhanced, and the SEZ are Kemaman Heavy Industrial Park, Kuantan Bio Park, Pekan Automative Park and Gebeng Industrial Park.

The Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park in Gebeng has attracted some big corporations from Asia and the initial investment pouring in is RM10bil.

For infrastructure development, about RM3bil will be invested to turn Kuantan Port into a deep-sea port. Works are underway for the central spine expressway as well as a feasiblity study for the RM30bil east coast rail link.

The feasiblity study for the rail link is expected to be completed in over a month's time.

"Kuantan Port is the eastern corridor, providing access to Asean, Australia, South China Sea and China. It is a gateway to four billion people and that is why investment decisions are made to invest in ECER,'' said Jebasingam.

ECER will have to jostle with other corridors for investments and on this Jebasingam said: "The distinguishing factor is that ECER is resource-rich, with oil and gas reserves, minerals, beautiful beaches, eco-tourism assets and vast tracks of agriculture land,'' he said.

He added that the cost of doing business in ECER was competitive as land prices were competitive and there are attractive packages for investors versus other economic corridors."

By B.K.SIDHU (thestar.com.my)

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