PUTRAJAYA: The Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ) aims to get 50 high-value projects off the ground and create 20,000 high skilled jobs within the next five years, says Rafizi Ramli.
Rather than using GDP or total investment value, the Economy Minister says this was a more reliable target to ensure that the SEZ delivers on its promise – to create many high-value ventures with high-paying jobs for Malaysians.
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In the next 10 years, the target is to implement 100 projects in the JS-SEZ, which will cover 3,505 sq km across six cities and townships in Southern Johor including Johor Baru, Iskandar Puteri, Pasir Gudang, Kulai, Pontian and Pengerang.
The target of total projects versus investment value or GDP - which measures economic output - is one of the ways that the unity government is breaking with the past in terms of how it wants to create a growth area that actually delivers, said Rafizi.
The hope is so that the government does not build another white-elephant industrial zone that launches with much fanfare and lofty targets but which in the end receives lukewarm investor interest, Rafizi told a briefing recently.
“When we were thinking of targets and deciding on what metric we should use, whether it is GDP or total investment value, we decided to settle on number of projects implemented within the zone,” he said.
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“Because if we set investment value at so-and-so billion then we might get one or two big projects that meet that value and then it just dies off”.
“Which is why from the very beginning, we wanted to anchor our targets on the number of projects that are implemented and the creation of 20,000 skilled jobs.
“Because these high value projects already bring with them jobs that can pay between RM5,000 to RM6,000 a month. So that is why we want to increase the number of these projects.”
Linking the JS-SEZ’s success to the number of projects that take off is a better metric because these individual ventures will then go on to create many jobs and income opportunities, he added.
“If we can pass the 50-project mark, then we will hit critical mass and the growth will expand organically,” he added.
The JS-SEZ is a zone inspired by areas such as Shenzen and Suzhou in China, where global firms are encouraged to expand their operations by leveraging on the advantages of both Johor and Singapore.
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Among the competitive advantages of setting up shop in the JS-SEZ are the affordable prices of land, labour and favourable tax regime according to documents shown by the ministry.
The JS-SEZ agreement also specifies that all investments must be high tech and of high value so as to prevent the zone from becoming swamped by low-skill assembly plants that pay low wages, said Rafizi.
An example of the high-tech, high value industries that JS-SEZ wants to nurture are advanced electrical and electronics manufacturing such as device design and manufacturing, he said.
“One of our biggest concerns is actually meeting the demand for skilled talent, because in our conversations with prospective investors they say, do you have the talent for these types of investments you are asking?”
One of the ways the government is addressing this is to make it seamless for skilled workers residing in Singapore to travel to Johor to work via special travel passes and public transport throughout southern Johor.
At the same time, the federal and state governments must be able to train Malaysians to be the skilled and semi-skilled workers that investors need, he added.
