Penang On Track To Become World-Class City By 2030

By Hamdan Ismail

GEORGE TOWN  (Bernama) -- The one-day Penang International Business and Investment Summit on Feb 26 emerged as a platform for the government and business sectors to gather information aimed at turning Penang into a world-class intelligent and green city by 2030.

Organised by the International Strategy Institute (ISI), the high-level networking conference discussed the business and investment opportunities Penang has to offer and also the state's plans for the next 11 years, said ISI chairman Cheah Chyuan Yong.

The theme for the conference was Penang 2030: Towards a holistic digital economy.

At a panel session on Penang's state of economy, moderated by Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) chairman Datuk Seri Azman Ujang, Flextronics Technology (Penang) Sdn Bhd senior global information technology leader and operations executive Lee See Nee set the ball rolling by allaying fears of unemployment should Penang's industries expand their Artificial Intelligence and robotics technologies.

"There will still be plenty of jobs and even new ones will be created. Don't think about losing your job because the least you can do is clean the robots,” he quipped.

LAND RECLAMATION

Lee, who has over 30 years of experience in the manufacturing sector, said both the young and old generations have a role to play in helping the state to boost its economy and meet its 2030 goals.

"The older people can be the venture capitalists because they have the money to invest in Penang. The young people can come here to work," he added.

Another panellist, Gamuda Bhd deputy group managing director Rashdan Yusof, said the scarcity of land for development in Penang was hindering its economic growth.

“As developers take to the hills, the hills (literally) fight back and all these landslides (have occurred). It's getting very dangerous (to carry out developments),” he said.

The shortage of land has led to the Penang government initiating a project to reclaim up to 1,740 hectares of land on the southern side of the island, known as the Penang South Reclamation (PSR) scheme. The project delivery partner for this scheme is SRS Consortium comprising Gamuda and other companies.

Rashdan said PSR would involve the creation of three islands, one of which would accommodate high technology electrical and electronics industries and the other two, affordable housing, service businesses and new tourism products.

Pointing to Singapore’s success in developing Marina Bay and Sentosa Island from reclamation works, he said the two projects have emerged from being non-existent some 40 years ago into becoming the country’s economic force, generating about half of its Gross Domestic Product.

“The PSR project will belong to the state government and become Penang’s (version of) Marina Bay. If Singapore has Universal Studio (on Sentosa Island), maybe Penang can bring Disneyland or something like that... you never know,” he said.

BOOSTING RECOVERY THROUGH LAND RECLAMATION

Rashdan also said that Penang’s economy would still be centred on its island proper rather than Seberang Perai in the mainland.

“The economic rationale of doing reclamation works would depend on the proximity of the existing economic centre and you cannot deny that Penang's economic centre is on the island and not in the mainland,” he said.

Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, he pointed out, had a tremendous amount of land on its inland side but still carried out a lot of reclamation works offshore to boost its economy.

 “They made a lot of man-made islands. Their economy is thriving. They (Dubai citizens) are now among the richest people in the world,” he said.

Rashdan said Penang enjoyed double-digit growth between 1970 and 2008 at an average of 11 percent per year, but due to various constraints faced by the state, its growth had declined drastically to about five percent in the last 10 years.

“Penang can go back right at the top of Malaysia’s economic engine and become a prime destination for all sorts of activities. Not just for food but also for tourism, culture and industry. It will be an exciting phase for Penang (from now until 2030),” he added.

Edited by Rema Nambiar

BERNAMA