Selangor drops RM1b bond programme
Selangor has dropped its proposed plan to raise RM1 billion worth of sukuk bonds to fund major infrastructure projects in the state
(FMT) – Selangor has dropped its proposed plan to raise RM1 billion worth of sukuk bonds to fund major infrastructure projects in the state.
Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said there are enough reserves in the state’s exchequer and there is no need to establish a sovereign wealth fund at the moment.
“We don’t need it yet because if we can get the water restructuring (exercise) done then we will have enough resources to do it (development of infrastructure).
“We still have our own reserve that we need to utilise. We have RM3 billion, we only used less than RM500 million and have a balance of RM2.5 billion,” Khalid told the media in Shah Alam last Friday after a briefing on water issues in Selangor.
Last October, Abdul Khalid said the sovereign wealth fund was needed to develop major urban localities like Petaling Jaya and Klang into “worldclass” cities.
The Selangor Urban Development Fund will raise a portion of the money from the private sector businesses in real estate and infrastructure development by leveraging assets like state-owned land.
