KUALA LUMPUR: The Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA) remains committed to developing the Kedah Rubber City (KRC) as planned, despite one of its earliest investors,' Hong Seng Consolidated Bhd, pulling out of a RM3 billion project to build and operate a nitrile butadiene latex (NBL) manufacturing plant there.
"To date, phase one of the project has been completed on schedule. "It is ready to receive investments from the rubber industry-related sectors that focus on downstream rubber product production, research and development (R&D) as well as services and support," NCIA said in responses to queries from New Straits Times.
Generally, the first phase of developing a project is to build the basic infrastructure of the area such as roads, electricity and water supply.
Hong Seng in announcing its plans to suspend its project said the company will renegotiate the terms of the agreement in relation to the KRC NBL project with NCIA, and explore alternative use of the land.
Hong Seng bought 42.49 hectares of federal land in KRC for RM45.74 million from NCIA for the set up of the plant, in 2020.
KRC is the first dedicated Rubber Industrial Park in Kedah.
Covering an area of 503 hectare, KRC was launched while Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob was Prime Minister, in February 2022.
In February this year, NCIA chief executive Mohamad Haris Kader Sultan said that investments committed since KRC's launch had reached RM3.06 billion.
Seven key clusters were identified for KRC, namely advanced latex products, tyre and tyre related products, automotive rubber products, engineering rubber products, advanced rubber materials, and biotechnology services & support.
The project is expected to contribute RM14.7 billion to the country's gross domestic product and create 14,500 jobs within 15 years once it is completed by 2030.