My good colleague who promised to bring me to her hometown Kuantan has YET to fulfil her promise. Haha. I think in my next visit, I have to also drive around the huge industrial park bring developed jointly by Malaysian and Chinese companies. As per a report in thestar, the park, called The Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park Sdn Bhd (MCKIPSB) had secured a total investments of RM5.6bil last year. For 2017, it is hoping to get another RM8 billion to RM10 billion new investments. This was shared by its chairman Datuk Soam Heng Choon (He is also IJM Corp Bhd’s CEO and MD) He said, “We want to seek for quality investments and are working to ramp up more investments.”
MCKIPSB, is a 51:49 joint venture between two consortiums from Malaysia and China. The Malaysian consortium includes public-private partnership comprising IJM Land Bhd, Sime Darby Property Bhd and the Pahang State Government. On the Chinese side, it is led by the state-owned conglomerate Guangxi Beibu Gulf International Port Group and Qinzhou Investment Development Co Ltd. Currently, MCKIP’s first and largest investor is Alliance Steel (M) Sdn Bhd. It is investing RM5.6bil to develop a of 3.5 million tonnes capacity steel mill at the industrial park. Total committed investments within the past three years has reached RM19billion. This includes a RM4bil project by Wuxi Suntech Power Co Ltd to develop crystalline silicon solar cells and module secured in the last quarter of 2016. Soam said that MCKIP is open to industries of all sizes even though it is currently beginning with the heavy industries.
Every time we read of investments into smaller cities / towns Malaysia, it’s always good to be there personally to understand a bit more. No harm in knowing more because huge investments would bring more jobs and with more jobs, the demand for everything would increase, including properties. Most of the time, these huge companies would also be bringing in their vendors who will also set-up their plants nearby in order to provide support. As long as the business is continuous, buying earlier may provide us an opportunity for capital gain. Of course, if we have only funds enough to buy one property, it may be best to get a property which is easier to rent out too. An attendee to BLT’s latest Property Outlook 2017 seminar asked me if he should buy in his hometown, Perlis first or buy in KL first. He is working in KL. The answer is obvious. If we are diversifying, then we can think a bit more. Else, it is less riskier to focus in established cities. If I do manage to drive around the industrial park, will update with a report. Cheers.
written on 10 Jan 2017
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