The Star Metro December 12, carried a very good commentary by Nelson Benjamin, the STAR Johor Bureau chief on Iskandar Development Region.
Apparently in the Johor State Assembly which is in session, a dozen assemblymen had raised verbal and written questions regarding Iskandar and Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman spent a long time answering the questions including giving a two page written reply on the progress of the project, total investments garnered and other economic data.
It is a shame that the mainstream papers missed an oportunity to inform the public what the Mentri Besar had said about Iskandar and also report on Iskandar’s progress till todate. It will be good if the mainstream newspapers can soon give an extensive report on Iskandar’s progress.
Nevertheless, what caught my attention was what Kempas Assemblyman Datuk Osman Sapian said in the Assembly, that while it was nice to hear that the Iskandarhad attracted RM40.25 billion since 2006, people wanted to see all this translated into development project. There must according to the Assemblyman a hive of activities in Iskandar but what he saw were signs about road projects with nothing else moving.
That is precisely what Johoreans are asking. What is exactly happening with Iskandar. At regular intervals we watch on TV or read about an agreement signing ceremony involving the launch of yet another mega project in Iskandar. Peruse the details and the agreement turns out to be nothing but a Memorandum of Understanding. We also read in the papers about Middle Eastern fund and money gushing into Iskandar. Why have these investors after ploughing in billions of Ringgit yet to commence their development projects. Did these Middle Eastern investors actually bring in real money or they merely made investment pledges.
The Mentri Besar gushing with pride says that since 2006 Iskandar has managed to attract some RM40.25 billion. That is helluva lot of money. Having collected such a huge loot, one would expect Iskandar to be a hive of activities. But that is not what is happening. Some road works and infrastructure works are going on.
Now compare Iskandar with Singapore government initiated Intergrated Resort which was launched almost at the same time. Go and visit the Marina Bay Area. The whole place is buzzing with a hive of activities. The tower cranes are on overdrive and work is going on round the clock. In fact some segments of the Intergrated Resort are almost on schedule for opening by next year end. Meanwhile, at Iskandar, what is taking place are memorandum of undestanding signing ceremonies, site tours by interested parties and more “commitment” of monies into Iskandar. Isn’t RM40.25 Billion already committed (assuming the money is already in hand) as claimed by the Mentri Besar still not sufficient to start a construction and development boom in Iskandar?
On Saturday, yet another signing ceremony took place. This time a RM750 million Legoland theme park. It is reported that this theme park which is set to join two other parks are schedule for completion by 2013. Frankly, Johoreans do not wish to know when the project will be completed but is interested to know when the project is actually going to start. Let us know, how many of the mega projects after the signing of the Memorandum of Understandings have started.
It is time the Mentri Besar give a full account to the people of Johor:-
i. A detailed progress report on the development in Iskandar.
ii. How much of the money by investors are merely investment pledges and how much actual money have been collected from foreign investors.
iii. How much money of its own has the state government and federal government ploughed into Iskandar.
iv. How many Memorandum of Undertanding have been signed and from these how many have materialised into actual projects.
v. Name the projects by foreign investors which are taking place and so far how many of these projects have been completed.
After some three years since the launch of the Iskandar, save for some infrastructure works in the Iskandar and the construction of the new administratice centre at Nusajaya, Johoreans have yet to see any tangible results of from Iskanadar. In fact, for small and medium businesses despite the billions of Ringgit Iskandar has claimed to have attracted, it has so far not translated into real business opportunities for them nor have they reaped any benefit so far.
Johoreans want to know the actual truth and its high time Mentri Besar revealed the real state of affairs and progress this far of Iskandar.
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