Penang CM spells out his vision for the state

(The Malaysian Insider) – High-wage jobs and quality investments are needed if Penang is to successfully transform from an electrical and electronics hub into a leading services player, its chief minister told an investor conference.

Despite attracting slightly over RM10 billion in investments last year — including notable ones by Honeywell Aerospace and National Instruments — Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng ranked a decision by the US cardiovascular medical devices maker St Jude Medical to build a US$30 million (RM105 million) facility in the state as one his most satisfying achievements in investment drawing in the year past.

“Singapore had almost clinched the deal but somehow we convinced them to come to Penang,” Lim told investors during a panel session on Malaysia's Growth Centres: Johor, Penang & Sabah.

Minnesota-based St Jude Medical plans to put up a 300,000-sq-ft plant to make cardiac products including pacemakers, and upon its completion in 2011 is expected to provide 300 high-income jobs and close to 1,000 jobs later if its expansion goes according to plan.

Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Ghani Othman said Singapore had always been one of the top three investors in Johor and that there was “a huge amount of complementaries between the two”, given Singapore's strategic location and Johor's vast hinterland and natural resources.

However, he added that Johor was also well located and becoming more competitive as a future destination for investments. Indeed, much has been made of the over RM40 billion in investments that the new growth corridor Iskandar Malaysia in South Johor has managed to attract in the past two to three years.

But it was Lim's vision for Penang that the participants warmed to.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/