RM850m for infrastructure support

The Government will allocate RM850 million for infrastructure support to accelerate corridor and regional development in the country.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, in his Budget 2011 speech, said the focus will be on several clusters with specialisation and geographical advantages.

Iskandar Malaysia will get RM339 million for the construction of highways, development of housing areas as well as providing and improving public transportation services.

Najib said the amount of investment committed by the private sector in the southern Johor region was RM62 billion as at June 2010, surpassing the targeted RM47 billion. Total actual investment in the same period was RM25 billion.

The Northern Corridor Economic Region will get RM133 million, which includes the development of an agricultural products processing centre, tourism infrastructure and a biotechnology incubator centre.

For the East Coast Economic Region, RM178 million is set aside for projects including industrial parks, water treatment plants, development of tourist areas as well as redevelopment of former Pahang Tenggara Development Authority and Jengka Region Development Authority areas.

Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy will receive RM93 million for facilities including telecommunication, water supplies, airport and roads as well as halal food industrial parks.

For the Sabah Development Corridor, a sum of RM110 million is allocated, among others, for palm oil industry cluster projects, agro-industrial precinct and integrated farming centre.

By Business Times