NANNING: The state of Malacca is eyeing more than RM5 billion foreign direct investments (FDIs) from Chinese investors this year, said Malacca Transport, Project Rehabilitation and International Trade executive Committee chairman Datuk Lim Ban Hong.
“For Malacca, our FDI target is RM5 billion every year. Last year, we managed to obtain RM6.9 billion FDIs. This year we are targeting at least RM5 billion. But we hope to get more than that.
“We are looking to attract more Chinese visitors to the state, not only to boost the tourism industry but also industrial investments,” said Lim during the Invest Malacca Forum at the 13th China-Asean Expo.
Supported by the Melaka State Development Corp, two agencies — Melaka Gateway and Impression Melaka — were highlighted during one of the investment forums to stimulate interest in the state, including tourism, trading, the international cruise terminal, free trade zone and industrial development.
Lim said interested investors, especially those from China, were welcome to be investment partners with the Malacca government.
“Last year, we received about 60 million domestic and foreign tourists. We hope this forum will help bring in more investors and tourists to Malacca.
“Every year, China has a big pool of tourists visiting other countries. Impression Melaka is instrumental in attracting more Chinese tourists to Malacca,” he said.
For tourism, Lim said the state government was focusing on 12 sub-sectors, such as medical tourism, youth tourism and tourism through conference, heritage and culture.
On another note, the memorandum of friendship signed last year between the Malacca and the Guangdong provincial government had enhanced cooperation between both sides.
“Under the memorandum, there are several areas that we have to develop together. One of them is industrial development and we hope to get more players from China, especially from the province of Guangdong, to participate in Malacca’s industrial development,” he said.
The RM40 billion Melaka Gateway project developed by KAJ Development Sdn Bhd will kick start the construction of its cruise terminal in the third quarter this year.
The Malacca International Cruise Terminal is slated for completion by next year and will be able to accommodate four large cruise ships at the same time.
Lim said approximately 250 cruise ships were targeted to dock at the terminal each year by 2020 and this would provide a great economic boost to the state. June Moh