ECER attracts RM109b in investments

KUALA LUMPUR: The East Coast Economic Region (ECER) has attracted RM109.15 billion in investments and created more than 140,000 job opportunities to date.
The government's statutory body also is on track to achieve its RM110 billion investment by 2020.
On Monday, ECER managed to secure another deal worth another RM9.9 billion in key sectors such as manufacturing, tourism, bio-economy and real estate.
"Today's event involves the exchange of documents between the Ecer Development Council (ECERDC) and fourteen foreign and domestic investors in ECER.
"These new investments alone are expected to create additional entrepreneurial opportunities and over 4,000 jobs for the rakyat in the ECER," the ECERDC said in a statement released after the ECER meeting held at parliament building here.
The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak, who is the ECERDC chairman.
The ECERDC was established in 2008 to spearhead the execution and implementation of the ECER master plan.
ECERDC plays a lead role in setting the directions, policies and strategies for the socio-economic development of ECER by promoting and facilitating investments into the region.
ECER, which covers the state of Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and the district of Mersing in Johor, is a rapidly transforming region that is steadily positioning itself and facilitating investments into the region.
It occupies an area of 66,000km² or 51% of the total area of Peninsular Malaysia.
Five key economic clusters, namely manufacturing, oil, gas & petrochemicals, tourism, agriculture and human capital development will drive the development of ECER in line with the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).
The ECER Master Plan, approved by the Government in 2008, was formulated as a basis to guide the development of ECER until 2020. It identifies projects and programmes to reduce regional socio-economic disparities, eradicate poverty and improve income and wealth distribution in a sustainable manner.