Malaysia to refresh appeal of Iskandar southern growth corridor to Singapore

MALAYSIA’s southern growth corridor Iskandar Malaysia, which was once bustling but post mid-2010s turned tired, is set to be re-energised. The new administration led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is considering jumpstarting derailed connectivity plans – among others – to woo more investments from across the Causeway, said a key minister.

“The Johor side is in the midst of proposing an ‘economic corridor’ between Iskandar Malaysia and Singapore to stimulate the synergies for businesses in Singapore to have part of their operations in Iskandar – you can call it sort of ‘twinning’ – and this is targeted at certain sectors,” said Tengku Zafrul Aziz, Malaysia’s newly-appointed Minister of International Trade and Industry (Miti).

The key sectors that Malaysia aims to draw more “high-value investments” from Singapore to revitalise the southern tip’s growth agenda range from electrical and engineering, chemicals and chemical products, fabricated metal products, machinery and equipment and transport equipment to services, Zafrul told The Business Times in a recent interview.