Incentives for foreign investors are given by federal government: Johor MB

ISKANDAR PUTERI: Incentives for foreign investors are given by the federal government and not the state, the Johor State Assembly was told today.
Mentri Besar, Datuk Mohamed Khaled Nordin (pix) said, Johor with its stable government had great potentials and strengths for foreign investments.
Furthermore, the state is also strategically located for investors to come in, especially with the state linked with good road infrastructures and ports.
Replying to Norshida Ibrahim (Buloh Kasap-Umno), he said Johor is also a regional hub for businessmen to fly in from various countries.
"Investors from Japan, Korea and China can fly into the state in about six hours or so," said Khaled, adding that compared to Singapore, Johor has more land space and cheaper investment opportunities.
In Johor, he said, investment cost is 60% lower than Singapore and 30% lower than Kuala Lumpur while cost of living is 68% lower than Singapore and 16% lower than Kuala Lumpur.
For the first nine months of the year, Khaled said, China topped the list in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) with RM23.78 billion, exceeding Singapore for the first time with investments in manufacturing (RM 1.37 billion) , property (RM21.98 billion), and others (RM430 million).
Singapore's investment through FDI stood at RM20.01 billion for the said period – manufacturing (RM9.39 billion), property (RM8.26 billion), and services (RM2.36 billion).
Meanwhile, United States recorded RM7.06 billion of investments, the third largest FDI.