The Next Shenzhen in the Making?

China has in the 80s and 90s successfully created and transformed several special economic zones. The booming of cities such as Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Shantao and Xiamen were the results of that transformation and the Government's dedication and commitment. Citing the economic and tourism boom in Singapore over the next few years, the Government of Malaysia recently launched a new development region, called Iskandar Development Region (IDR), which is located south of Peninsular Malaysia and is situated just next to Singapore. An ambitious project, indeed, and as always, the plan attracted plenty of sceptics and to be fair, this is not surprising, given the perceived "failure" of past mega projects such as Cyberjaya and Putrajaya. The big question remains, will this be another mega project flop or is it going to raise the bar for Malaysia as a foreign investment destination?

Based on early indications, Malaysian Government appears to be fully committed to the success of this project. A slew of incentives were declared, including:
- 100% foreign ownership
- freedom to source for capital overseas
- freedom to source for 100% foreign human capital
- tax incentives and exemption
- removal of property gains tax

The above were further supported by the Government's effort to improve efficiency of public service delivery.

In recognition of Singapore's involvement being one of the key success factor, the Prime Minister of Malaysia even resembles the position of Singapore vis a vis the IDR like that of Hong Kong to Shenzhen, and pledged to make it a win-win proposition for both countries. Yesterday, for the first time, the Prime Minister of Singapore has also pledged to support IDR as he sees the success of IDR being fundamentally important to Singapore's growth. In pledging the support, both countries agree that they will each deploy a minister to be part of the IDR special committee to discuss areas of co-orperation.

While the sceptics are still sharpening their knives, I am one who believes that the Malaysian Government is fully committed to its success, and is making the right steps forward in making its business more liberalised and forging a closer collaboration with its close neighbours (which has not been as such previously) in ensuring nothing other than success is achieved.

This is just to say there are more opportunities to be tapped for the like-hearted investors of the world!