Malaysia's Perlis Eyes South Korean Investors For Chuping Valley

From Zainal Abdul Jalil DAEJON (South Korea), Dec 4 (Bernama) -- South Korean investors have been invited to invest in the Chuping Valley of Malaysia's northernmost state Perlis, an area being developed exclusively for green and environment friendly industries with operations slated to begin at end-2017. The Crown Prince of Perlis Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra Jamalullail in making the invitation said now was the right time for South Korean companies to grab the opportunity to invest. "Apart from attractive land prices of between US$2.84 (RM12) to US$3.55 (RM15) per square feet, a number of other incentives are also being offered to investors such as a 60-year land lease, political stability, low risk of natural disasters and low cost of living, as well as the right to have a 100 per cent foreign equity interest in the corporate sector. "I find that Chuping Valley is right for South Korean investors, many of whom are involved in the green high technology and environmentally friendly industries," he added. Tuanku Syed Faizuddin was speaking after a Letter of Intent (LoI) signing ceremony between Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP) and South Korea's Hanbat National University, the Manufacturing Innovation Development Corporation (MIDC), as well as green technology research company, High-Tech Solutions here Thursday night. Tuanku Syed Faizuddin as the UniMAP Chancellor was with Vice Chancellor Prof Emeritus Kamarudin Hussin on a working visit to South Korea to forge cooperation with universities and companies in the country. He had there been a lot of feedback from various parties keen on investing in Perlis, but they lacked information. Now, he said was the right time to have the companies visit Perlis, with the Federal government having approved infrastructure development which will begin next year. He also said from the point of logistics, the Chuping Valley was strategic as it was supported by the Perlis Inland Port (PIP) to be developed simultaneously with the electric train service (ETS), to connect the state with Penang Port (in north Malaysia) as well as the Sultan Abdul Halim Airport in Alor Setar (in Malaysian state Kedah). "Perlis is also within the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) spread over 569,000 square kilometres and with a population of 67.7 million. "The location is very strategic as it also connects the ASEAN states of Cambodia, Singapore and Vietnam. The Chuping Valley will also have supporting industries," Tuanku Syed Faizuddin added. High Tech Solutions general manager Jongpil Kang said there were a lot of industries around Daejon who were keen to relocate to outside South Korea, particularly to those offering attractive incentives and support. Tuanku Syed Faizuddin and Kamarudin as well as senior officers of UniMAP met with Byungjin Kim, the president cum chief operations officer of SATREC Initiative, the company that built the RazakSAT satellite for a discussion. The delegation also visited and had discussions with officials of the Korea Conformity Laboratories(KCL), Korea High Tech University, and the Center For Intelligent Machines and Robotic Industries, located at the Technopark Daejon. --BERNAMA