NCIA Achieves Higher Investments Of US$2.32 Bln In 2017

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 23 (Bernama) -- The four states in the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) recorded a higher private sector participation worth US$2.32 billion (RM9.12 billion) and created 11,824 jobs in 2017. The development plan encompassing Perlis, Penang, Kedah and northern Perak achieved RM8.3 billion in private sector participation and added 12,376 jobs in 2016. "While we were putting up a lot of efforts to develop our growth nodes, we were still able to manage and bring in investments which were higher than the previous year," said North Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA) Chief Executive Datuk Redza Rafiq. However, the agency set a lower target of RM7.4 billion in private sector participation in 2018 with 7,379 jobs created. "We are managing expectations," Redza told a media briefing on the NCER progress update here Monday. He said this year's focus would mainly be on manufacturing, services, as well as agriculture and bio-industry. Moving forward, Redza said NCIA would focus on enhancing infrastructure to support connectivity and growth in order to take the region to the next level. The agency is poised to give priority to connectivity and logistics initiatives to encourage growth and accelerate development in order to bring about a significant impact for the people in the region. "We recognise that infrastructure for connectivity and logistics are imperative for long-term economic growth and to improve the quality of life of the rakyat. "Hence, we are focusing on strengthening rural, rural-urban and inter-city connectivity through enhanced road, rail, sea and air services," he added. Among infra-rakyat projects in NCER include the Rapid Sungai Petani and Rapid Manjung bus services, the Perlis Inland Port, as well as the land port and railway at the Kota Perdana Special Border Economic Zone. The concept of connectivity was strongly featured in the NCER Development Blueprint 2016-2025 launched by Prime Minister Najib Razak last year. On cumulative investment from 2009 until end of 2017, Redza said NCIA had attracted RM89 billion worth of investments from the private sector and created 115,421 jobs. NCIA also surpassed its target by increasing the average income of the the bottom 40 per cent of households (B40) participants to RM2,196. On business process, NCIA had achieved 84 per cent against its goal of between 70 per cent and 64 per cent. Both the Employee Satisfaction Rating and Employee Retention also surpassed their targets, achieving 3.8 per cent and 92 per cent, respectively, indicating that NCIA's workforce is on track and receptive to transformation. -- BERNAMA