Since the year 2006 until the first quarter of 2012, IskandarMalaysiahas managed to attract up to RM87.56bil in cumulative committed investments for various sectors not only coming from local investors but also foreign investors. Due to its close proximity toSingapore, it is one of the main factors attracting more foreign property investors to make IskandarMalaysiaas their second home as well as investing in the property market within the area. In addition, the prices of residential properties in Iskandar Malaysia is also considered as relatively cheaper for foreigners compared to properties in their home countries.
IskandarMalaysiais a well planned region forMalaysia’s Southern Gateway which covers a land size of 2,217 sq. km. or 3 times bigger than the size of Singapore and also 48 times much bigger that the size of Putrajaya. It consist of 5 Flagship Zones which include Flagship A (Johor Bahru City which is the Central Business District and the State Capital of Johor), Flagship B (Nusajaya which is the new state, federal administration and logistics), Flagship C (Western Gate Development which has a large land banks if mostly agricultural lands and mangrove forests), Flagship D (Eastern Gate Development which focused on heavy industries and logistics, including electrical and electronics (E&E), chemical, oleochemical, food and engineering-based industries as well as ports and logistics and warehousing and last but not least Flagship E (Senai – Skudai which focuses on large-scale commercial and airport-related enterprises).
According to IskandarMalaysia’s CEO, Encik Ismail Ibrahim, “We have recorded RM2.78bil in cumulative committed investments as of March this year (2012) with 61% of the revenue generated by domestic investors while the remaining 39% amounting to RM34.21bil are coming from foreign investments,” he said.
Another development in IskandarMalaysiawhich is considered as important and also being a catalytic project within the area is the EduCity. It is being hailed as a world-class education hub not only for the Southern region but also forMalaysia. The EduCity project represents a significant investment especially in the field of education and it is one of the key to the future of IskandarMalaysia. In line with the main objectives of the NinthMalaysiaPlan which is to promote our country as an excellence center for education.
Apart from being strategically-located within the Iskandar Malaysia development, the EduCIty is expected to be a world-class education enclave that enables Malaysians to further their studies and also turning the city into a regional educational hub that offers international level of education that beyond the reach of students from major Asian cities.
The EduCity consist of an area of 305 acres located within Nusajaya, Johor that falls under the Flagship B area and also nearby the Medini Iskandar central business district (CBD) of Nusajaya. The education hub can be easily accessible by using theCoastal Highwaythat has a direct link to Medini when you are coming from Johor Bahru city centre and as forSingaporetravelers, you can make use of the Malaysia-Singapore Second Link expressway for easy traveling.
The ongoing development of the EduCity project is currently undertaken by Iskandar Investment Berhad (‘IIB’) which is a 60% subsidiary of Khazanah Nasional (‘Khazanah’). The EduCity educational enclave is also known as an Entry Point Project (‘EPP’) created under the Government’s Economic Transformation Programme. In terms of concept, the EduCity will become an integrated hub that would be able to cover the entire education spectrum starting from as early as the pre-school, primary, secondary, and tertiary levels that include multi-varsity enabling global education providers to offer various disciplines within the area.
When fully developed, the EduCity would be able to accommodate up to 16,000 students ranging from various levels of education. Pioneer tenant of this world-class education enclave is the Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia(‘NuMED’) which has been operating since 1st November 2011 starting with a small batch of 80 undergraduates. It was officially launched by His Royal Highness Prince Andrew, The Duke of York and the NuMED campus is expected to expand its student’s intake up to 900 by the year 2015.
As for other on-going development within the EduCity enclave includes the following:
- The International Students’ Village which is located on a five-acre site specially dedicated for accommodation of students. It is expected to start its operations in August 2012.
- A first-class Stadium and Sports Complex that has facilities such as a football pitch, indoor arena, aquatic centre, 400-metre running track, and a 12,000-seating capacity stadium. The complex is scheduled to be opened in September 2012.
- Multi-Varsity Enterprise Complex that can house various higher learning institutions under one roof. It will be officially used by The Netherlands Maritime Institute of Technology andUniversity of SouthamptonMalaysiathis coming September.
- Other education institutions that will be using the Multi-Varsity Enterprise Complex in the next couple of years areRafflesAmericanSchool(August 2014), Marlborough College IskandarMalaysia(August 2012), Raffles University Iskandar (December 2014), University of Reading (2015), and also theMultimediaUniversity(September 2014).
With the existence of so many world-class higher institutions, EduCity will definitely be among the front runner in providing higher education to students throughout Asia as well as a place to live, earn a living and relax. EduCity is expected to play a major role in boosting the socio-economic within the Iskandar Malaysia corridor and also at the same time playing an integral role in sustaining Iskandar Malaysia in the eyes of the world.
Picture by: jbcool
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