PDC inks RM1.3 bil joint venture agreement with Temasek, EDIS

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang Development Corporation (PDC) inked a RM1.3 billion joint venture agreement with Temasek and Economic Development Innovation Singapore (EDIS) for the development of a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Prime Project at Bandar Bayan Baru here.
The BPO Prime Project will be built on 6.8 acres of land where PDC's office is currently located in Bayan Baru through the collaboration.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the collaboration was a testimony of the confidence and trust that the international business community had in the future of Penang.
"The project will fill in the gaps where there is a shortage of Grade A office space for Shared Services Outsourcing (SSO) and BPO.
"The SSO sector has achieved rapid growth over the years and Malaysia has constructively been ranked the world's third SSO destination by global management consulting firm AT Kearney since 2004 after India and China," he told reporters during a press conference at his office in Komtar here.
Lim, who witnessed the signing ceremony, said the BPO Prime would be representing the prime business hub in Malaysia's Multimedia Super-Corridor (MSC) at Penang Cyber City 1 covering a minimum of 1.6 million square feet.
The construction of the project is expected to start in 2016 and it is slated to be completed by 2019.
In Penang, the cumulative investments for SSO companies with MSC status between 2009 and 2014 stands at RM4.073 billion.
The SSO sector in Penang provides over 8,000 high income jobs to locals and serves both regional and global markets.
Lim said the numbers are expected to increase by 60 per cent in the next three years.