KUALA LUMPUR: The five national development corridors have brought in a total of RM248.06 billion in committed investments from their respective establishment dates until May this year, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk SK Devamany told the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

From that total, foreign investments accounted for RM117.33 billion while private domestic investments for the five corridors were at RM122.47 billion, he added. A big proportion of committed foreign investment was focused in capital-intensive sectors including energy, paper or pulp, heavy industries and property.

A total of 197 proposed projects in the various corridors were at various stages of implementation, said Devamany (Cameron Highlands-BN).

In a reply to Matulidi Jusoh (Dungun-BN), Devamany said the federal government had only injected RM6.28 billion into the corridors, of which RM5 billion was administered by the Public-Private Partnership Unit under the Prime Minister’s Department.

Devamany added that the remainder of the RM6.28 billion was provided by ministries and government-linked companies.

“The government’s role in the economic corridors is as a facilitator. The funds we provide are to help private companies succeed and for infrastructure to attract investors so this will have a (spillover) social and economic effect to surrounding areas,” he said.

Devamany reiterated that moving forward, growth would be private sector-led and that the 10th Malaysia Plan had provided for the establishment of a RM20 billion facilitation fund to help the private sector finance projects.

The fund sought to “help companies kick off” by providing funding of up to 10% of a company’s total investments, he added.

The five economic corridors — Iskandar Malaysia in Johor, Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER), East Coast Economic Region (ECER), Sabah Development Corridor (SDC) and Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (Score) — were launched by former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi between 2006 and 2008.

In providing a breakdown of the RM248.06 billion total, Devamany said Iskandar Malaysia had notched RM60.18 billion in investments from its launch in November 2006 to May this year. Iskandar Malaysia, formerly known as the Iskandar Development Region, was forecast to attract a total of RM110 billion in investments.

It was earlier reported that Iskandar Malaysia had attracted investments of RM55.56 billion as at December 2009, 60% of which were foreign direct investments.

Devamany said Score has drawn a total of RM87.61 billion in investments while the SDC has attracted RM32.01 billion.

Score, which was launched in February 2008, was expected to bring in some RM334 billion in investments by 2030, banking on hydroelectric power generation as its main engine of growth.

The 320km-long development corridor from Tanjung Manis in Mukah to Bintulu, Sarawak includes the setting up of five power generation plants to generate at least 20,000 megawatts of electricity at any one time.

The SDC, which was launched in January 2008, was expected to attract about RM105 billion in investments over its 18-year implementation period.

There are 10 major projects planned under the SDC to provide industrial infrastructure with the aim of transforming Sabah into a regional gateway for trade, investment and tourism.

For the NCER, Devamany told the Dewan Rakyat that the total investments as at May stood at RM39.94 billion while that for ECER was RM28.32 billion. The ECER — which spans Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang as well as the Mersing district in Johor — had identified five economic clusters, which are oil, gas and petrochemicals, tourism, manufacturing, agriculture and education.

It was reported that ECER is expected to implement projects worth an estimated RM112 billion by 2020.

The NCER was forecast to attract about RM177 billion in investments from its launch date in July 2007 to 2025. Its key areas are agriculture, manufacturing, tourism and logistics.

This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, July 13, 2010.