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PULAI, Malaysia: Malaysia on Friday voiced confidence it will attract billions of dollars in global investments to turn its southernmost state Johor into a metropolis similar to China's Shenzhen or Hong Kong.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the state neighbouring Singapore was expected to draw investors from the Middle East, Americas and Asia.
"Our 20-year plan is to attract 105 billion dollars, and 50 billion ringgit (13.6 billion dollars) in the next five years," he told reporters after hosting the inaugural meeting of the Iskandar Regional Development Authority, which oversees development of the region.
"It will be one of the global new growth centres. Therefore we have to be competitive to draw investors. It has good potential to be successful," he said.
The project, called the Iskandar Development Region, will be 2.5 times the size of Singapore and cover an area of 2,217 square kilometers (853 square miles) - making it the largest integrated development in the country.
Malaysia has long dreamed of turning sleepy southern Johor state into a major metropolis across from booming and orderly Singapore.
Abdullah previously said the government will inject 4.3 billion ringgit while Khazanah Nasional, the state investment agency, will pump in 3.4 billion and the private sector will provide 10 billion in the early phase of the plan, previously called the South Johor Economic Zone.
But Abdullah, who is also the finance minister, warned that for the plan to be successful, Malaysia had to work hard and be competitive and was prepared to hire foreign experts to help realise it.
"We have the benefit of low cost. The population has technical skills. We should be ready to employ international professionals whenever it is needed," he said in Pulai, a town inside the development area and west of Johor Bahru.
Abdullah said "good governance and accountability" were also needed to make the area attractive, adding that incentives were being drawn up to woo investors. He did not elaborate.
Two companies linked to the travel and tourism industry on Friday signed an agreement to build a hotel and a resort in the region.
Singapore-based Amanresorts Limited will develop a luxury resort expected to be completed in 2009 and aviation tycoon Tony Fernandes' Tune Hotels will put up a budget hotel by early next year, a document issued by Khazanah Nasional said.
Later Friday, Abdullah was to launch the Nusajaya project, the key development within the economic region.
The state's administrative capital will shift from Johor Bahru to Bandar Nusajaya in the southern tip of Johor, closer to Singapore which lies across a narrow strait.
Development of the capital, which will feature Moorish architecture, is expected to be completed in August at a cost of 1.0 billion ringgit.
The project is also to include exclusive residential homes, a logistics hub, a waterfront city, a medical hub, a theme park and an educational city. - AFP/yy
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