NCER - Northern Corridor Economic Region | Penang-Kedah-Perlis | Sime Darby

[OshHisham]

Originally Posted by Leeigh

hey OSH, jangan ler engkau gelak aku mai dari Perli h! cis.

joking only lah...my friend from perlis told me kangar is like that....
i haven't been to kangar...but i guess the level of development in kangar suit their population....

[cooltemper]

Originally Posted by alsen

like what? you think kampung are so teruk ah!

look at what your fren, osh said first, he condemn Perlis for being a kampong, but in actual fact he also from kampong. just when you move to kl and grow up in kl then thought that very powderful ah.

Ya, some more take scholarship to Japan, BIG BIG city.... then come back to malaysia and laugh at Perlis is Kampong. WHat a lousy mindset.

I forger, he is your senior in Japan right? So you better don't changed to somebody like that OSH,

[megamal]

sudah la oi

[pedang]

August 03, 2007 16:27 PM

NCER Very Good Idea, Says Mahathir

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 3 (Bernama) -- The Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) for which conglomerate Sime Darby Bhd will be the master planner, has been given the "nod" by former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

"Very good idea," he told reporters after delivering his special keynote address entitled "Driving Malaysia As A Franchising Hub" at the Franchise International Malaysia 2007 here Friday.

Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi launched the NCER master plan state by state beginning last Monday in Kedah and Perlis followed by the launch in Penang and northern Perak the next day.

Dr Mahathir, who is also the patron of the Malaysian Franchise Association, also expressed his best wishes for the project.

Focus has been given to three main areas for the development of the northern region, namely agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism with support of infrastructure development and human capital.

One-third of the total investment in the NCER of RM177 billion until 2025 will be from the government, with the rest from the private sector.

Besides the southern and northern regions, plans are also underway for the development of the east coast, with substantial investment for the development to come from the private sector in the form of private finance initiatives (PFIs).

Asked on when Petronas, which has been tasked with the development of the East Coast, will come out with the masterplan for the Eastern Corridor development, Dr Mahathir said: "I don't know. Petronas have yet to tell me anything. I am waiting for them."

Dr Mahathir is the advisor to the national oil firm.

The government has given Petronas the responsibility of spearheading the development of the Eastern Corridor encompassing Kelantan, northern Terengganu and western Pahang.

As part of the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP), the eastern region states will be given an allocation of RM22.3 billion.



-- BERNAMA

[nazrey]

PM to launch Butterworth park
Friday August 3, 2007
TheStar


THE launching of a 50th Independence Anniversary Park in Permatang Pauh, Butterworth, will be the highlight of the prelude to the Merdeka celebrations this year.

Datuk Abdul Jalil Abdul Majid who heads Program Mesra Rakyat Merdeka celebrations said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi would launch the park at Tuanku Bainun Teaching Institute in Permatang Pauh this Saturday.

He said the park which was still under design and planning stage would feature the development and achievements made under Abdullah and past prime ministers.

“The park will also have galleries displaying contributions of the past leaders.

“Cycling and jogging tracks will also be built within the park which will also serve as a recreational area for the people,” he said.

Abdul Jalil said a mini Putrajaya and replicas of the Petronas twin tower, the Penang Bridge and the Penang Second Link would be built in the park.

“All tree species that can be found in the country will also be planted in the park,” Abdul Jalil who is also the Permatang Pauh Umno division head said.

Abdul Jalil said this at a press conference and launching of Program Mesra Rakyat at the institute.

He said the park would be sited on a 43ha plot owned by the federal government.

Application to turn the land into a park had been submitted for approval, he said.

He added that once approved, work to construct the park would take about two years.

“We will also promote the park as a new tourist destination for Penang,” he said.

He said Abdullah would be escorted by 15 vintage cars to the launching ceremony.

[khoojyh]

Originally Posted by megamal

sudah la oi

yalah... sudahlah, kita ni orang malaysia, jaganlah macam tu...

[megamal]

i wonder why johor become metropolis but the northern region remain as paddy field?

[pedang]

penang akan jadi metropolis la.

[megamal]

tak de sebut pun ......

[pedang]

PDC to facilitate NCER implementation

Email us your feedback at fd@bizedge.com

PENANG: Penang Development Corporation (PDC) will be leveraging on its key strengths to assist in the implementation of the newly launched Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER).

Its general manager Datuk Rosli Jaafar said the company would look into all sectors of the regional development blueprint to see where it could work synergistically in the rollout of the projects.

“We will mainly play a supportive role in the rollout of the plan in areas relevant to our strengths which are in industrial, property and infrastructure development,” he told The Edge Financial Daily here.

[Arkdriver]

to all,

At first, i was very skeptical about the NCER implementation. Like you, i doubt Pak Lah's intention to turn Northern Peninsular area into new and efficient rice bowl of Malaysia. For me then it was a step backwards.

I posted the question during Malaysian economy class about it. My lecturer explain, with all the redevelopment of agriculture, it's actually a natural step forward for developing countries. FYI, we're not going back to the past nor we want to increase the number of padi farmers, fisherman and cowboys (penternak lembu, kambing, ayam dsb). But the plan is rather to orchestrate a better system so that with the land we have, we can produce more which means greater efficiency, and better quality of our agricultural product.

Look around you, what's the average age of farmers? The answer will be around 40 years old. Obviously with all the development take away their child to join manufacturing industry with better paychecks. What Pak Lah and his economist want is to keep their child at home, give them better machineries to work on their fertile land and coordinated supply chain to ensure the process of producing quality product so that we can export the product overseas. As for the fisherman, deep water fishing port in Batu Maung is their place to start. Development doesn't solely mean building higher and higher building, crisscrossing web of highways. Development means doing things with better efficiencies and product-wise, it will be better. That's what they are trying to turn Northern Corridor into.

People tend to associate 'becoming developed country' with supertalls, banking and financial center etc etc. They see this image of developed countries in TVs. Let's take example USA. What people saw on TV everyday is New York, Hollywood, Hoover Dam, and sex. But they dont see farmers working on their crops with huge machine. USA produce high quality grain but many people dont know about it. I can go forever bragging about the agriculture product of USA but let's stop short here. Another example would be Netherlands.

That is what PM is trying to turn Penang into. In the future agriculture may not constitute half of our nation's export but with better use of our soil, we can achieve food self sufficiency. Service sector and manufacturing will still play the main role in the country.

We have Penang with the best infrastructure, Kedah and Perak with more land and Perlis which has Thai border up north. They are using the advantages of each state to make this thing successful. Penang will become the hub of distribution of our quality agriculture product.

The plan may not stated to turn Penang into metropolis. But i believe eventually Penang will turn itself into a metropolis once all the thing is in place.

Comparison between NCER and IDR

IDR is different. As Johor situated just next to Singapore, it's best positioned to tap into Singapore industries which try to find cheaper place to relocate their operation. Apart from that, adding banking and service sector will make it more attractive as it will make them one-stop-center for operation. You wanna set a factory? Yes you have the space. Financing? Yes we have banks and financial institutions. Quality workers? Aplenty, find them in UTM and other colleges. That's IDR advantage over Batam. Batam may only provide workspace and tax perks but Johor can provide it all. Just bring you plan and we'll make it happen.

Household income in Johor is higher than those within NCER. Everybody knows because of the Singaporean dollar power, the cost of living in JB is much higher than the cost of living in Penang. So that's why Pak Lah wants to improve the income and livelihood among farmers in NCER. You cant just make them to join manufacturing sector while their education background is merely until darjah 6 or form 3 only. Nowadays even when u want to work as operator pengeluaran in Prai they want you to have at least SPM. So apart from education the most suitable way to provide them with job is to train them with latest technology/technique in farming, animal husbandry (penternakan haiwan) and deep water fishing. Naturally, the generation will move upwards the supply chain.

We cant be overly dependent on manufacturing. With stronger ringgit it make Malaysia less attractive as labor intensive industry is actively seeking cheaper place such as Vietnam and China to do their business. What Malaysian and Pak Lah do in Penang is to focus on high end, RnD jobs which needs more intellects to do it. Higher end job means higher pay, and bigger spending power.

So Penangites, dont feel so low because NCER talks more about agriculture, understand the concept, and in the end of 10 years from now everybody will know foods serve on their table must have come from Kedah and Perlis or Perak, processed and distributed by companies in Penang.

Let all supertalls stay elsewhere, i'm much prouder with our prewar houses, electronics industry and Penang Airport.

Yesterday Ghani Othman told reporters that he thinks Senai Airport have much better facilities than Penang Airport. Perhaps he can explain why Fedex, UPS, KAL Cargo, MAS Kargo, Eva Air Cargo and China Airlines cargo does not fly into Senai and pick up boxes there......

[cooltemper]

You are a SUPER PILOT.
I like your comments and accepted it.

But you mentioned about USA....err....SEX...
Haha that is damn TRUE.
Most of the Pornographic movie (with real meriam one) i watched is from US.
HAHA.......

[forrestcat]

Well said ssangyoung. Another good example is Australia, they have very strong agriculture sector although all they have to do to survuive is have a shovel and dig for ores of which OZ has plenty.

South Australia, despite being an overall agricultural state, is home to 70% of Australia's defense industry. So, being an agriculture state, does't mean its 'low class'.

[patchay]

my aussie state here is also Agriculture state...

[Arkdriver]

Yeah i forgot about Australia. I remember a documentary in Discovery Channel showing penternakan lembu2 manja di Jepun. Cows in that area are pampered, given highest quality food and even served red wine at times!! Every morning before they let go the cows to open space, they massage them first. Happy cows produce high quality meat and believe it or not, 1 kilogram of happy Japanese cows fetch about rm 2000 - rm 3000. I dont know about the accuracy of this figure, perhaps our friends in Japan can confirm.

Australia is good example. You see, the standard of life over there, and high quality wines...Shiraz is one of them..

[skyscraperboy]

06-08-2007: Putting together support infrastructure



KUALA LUMPUR: Just like the structural foundation of a building, the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) master plan will not be able to hold its ground and achieve its goals if the required building blocks and support structures are not put in place.

With its main objectives of economic growth of key industries and overall social development of the northern states, there is no denying the NCER will need to boost its physical infrastructure and skilled talents to achieve these aims.

Physical infrastructure refers not only to building of new highways and transport systems; it also includes improvement of utility services like energy, water and waste management, and irrigation systems for agriculture.

These have been included in the master plan in combination with several infrastructure mega projects allocated for under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP), for which total investment will run into the billions.

While issues of inadequate physical infrastructure are easily addressed, the challenge of creating a skilled talent pool that will drive these key economic sectors forward and effect the much-needed paradigm shift among the lower-educated community is a different issue altogether.


Brain drain and paradigm shifts

Some 46% of the poor and hardcore poor households in Malaysia are located in the NCER, with some families surviving on incomes of less than RM200 per month. Given that the majority of these people have below-PMR education level, resistance to change and modernisation will likely be strong.

In view of this, the government will need to work hard to change their mindset and overcome any resistance before there is any hope of improving their quality of life or getting the NCER initiatives off the ground.

At the same time, another issue the NCER will have to address is the loss of Malaysian knowledge workers to developed countries, which has intensified over the years, leading to a severe lack of skilled human talent within the local market.

Although the government has not officially revealed the number of skilled Malaysians working overseas since 2004 —the total number was about 40,000 then — it can be safely assumed that the number has increased over the past few years with the global shift towards a knowledge-based economies.

An indication of this is in the migration of 4,000 Malaysians with special skills or degrees to Australia last year alone.

At the same time, graduate unemployment has also been plaguing the local talent pool, augmenting the fact that we are losing our best and brightest to other countries.

In fact, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said last year that there would be a shortage of between 30,000 and 40,000 researchers, scientists and engineers by 2010 if the country did not put into place effective measures to stop the brain drain.

Development initiatives for new sectors under the NCER master plan such as seed research and biotechnology require people with skill sets and expertise that are scarce in the country, and which will prove to be a problem if these industries are earmarked for growth.


Improving physical infrastructure

Plans are underway to enhance the national and international linkages of the NCER to external trade zones, including border towns, ports and airports in the region, as well as connect the region with other economic regions in the country.

The new highway projects slated include the second bridge connecting Penang to Batu Kawan, a coastal highway, widening of roads between Butterworth and Kota Bharu connecting the NCER to the Eastern Corridor, upgrading of roads from Taiping to Grik and a new highway linking Yan with Gurun.

Railway transportation within the NCER will also be improved with new projects like the Butterworth transportation hub, the Penang Monorail project, the Ipoh-Sungai Petani commuter train and an inland commercial depot in Padang Besar.

Since Penang has been identified for transformation into a regional integrated logistics hub, the facilities and capacity of its airport and seaport will be upgraded to cater to higher volumes in aircraft and feeder vessel traffic.

In line with the aim of modernising the agriculture sector, steps will be taken to improve the irrigation systems and water supply of rice-growing areas in the NCER. Currently, 89.3% of rice fields in the NCER are irrigated compared with 98.3% in Selangor.

Hence, the government is planning to extend, widen and deepen existing canals, build new reservoirs and develop man-made lakes, all of which are expected to help address the problems that farmers face.


Creating a larger skilled talent pool

Although Penang, Perlis and Kedah will have their own programmes and initiatives for talent creation, Perak has been selected as the human capital development centre for the NCER, and a centre of skills excellence has been planned in the state.

Existing government vocational skills centres will be expanding their intake to include 15-year-olds and new courses with an economic focus will be introduced, such as agribusiness, modern aquaculture, paddy farming, equipment maintenance and logistics equipment operations.

Other initiatives aimed at training human capital for knowledge-intensive areas include the proposed microelectronics centre of excellence in Penang and Sime Darby’s seed academy in Perlis.

To encourage private companies to participate in the new sectors under the NCER master plan, a new Human Capital Development Fund will be set up with an annual allocation of RM20 million to provide employee training in these sub-sectors and development of specialised skills.

The NorthStar Agriculture Scholarship Programme targeted at those wishing to pursue a career in agriculture or agribusiness will be established to encourage students to obtain undergraduate or post-graduate qualifications from Universiti Putra Malaysia, as well as certain universities abroad.

[cooltemper]

Originally Posted by ssangyongs

Yeah i forgot about Australia. I remember a documentary in Discovery Channel showing penternakan lembu2 manja di Jepun. Cows in that area are pampered, given highest quality food and even served red wine at times!! Every morning before they let go the cows to open space, they massage them first. Happy cows produce high quality meat and believe it or not, 1 kilogram of happy Japanese cows fetch about rm 2000 - rm 3000. I dont know about the accuracy of this figure, perhaps our friends in Japan can confirm.

Australia is good example. You see, the standard of life over there, and high quality wines...Shiraz is one of them..

that is kobe cow right, the most expensive beef in the market/restaurant.

[megamal]

The Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) marginalises Penang as the Federal government has neither stated how much development funds will be spent on Penang nor the target of investment to be attracted to Penang

_______________

Press Conference

by Lim Guan Eng

___________________



(Penang, Wednesday): The NCER is one of the regions identified under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (2006-2010) for the promotion of balanced and equitable national economic development. The NCER claims to revolve around three main thrusts of agriculture, manufacturing and services. However, what we have seen so far is the emphasis of agriculture at the expense of manufacturing and services, which are the mainstays of Penang’s economy.

The NCER marginalizes Penang, as the Federal government has neither stated how much development funds will be spent on Penang nor the target of investment to be attracted to Penang. One fund manager, Aseambankers Equity Research on 5 July 2007, said that the NCER is estimated that at least RM50 billion will be invested in the region over the next 10 to 15 years, with almost half going into infrastructure such as the Second Penang Bridge, Penang Monorail, Ipoh-Padang Besar double-tracking project, highways and inland roads, as well as integrated water management that includes irrigation and flood mitigation.

Compared with Johor’s Iskandar Developlment Region(IDR) which targets RM 50 billion over the first five years and RM 383 billion target over 20 years, the NCER and Penang has clearly lost out in the race for foreign investment. In contrast to Johor alone getting RM 50 billion over 5 years, the RM 50 billion is to be divided over four states of Kedah, Perlis, Perak and Penang and over a period not of 6 years but over 10 to 15 years.

When the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi launches the NCER on 30 July, can he reveal how much the government is going to spend in NCER, particularly for Penang? For instance, the RM 2.7 billion 23.5 km second Penang Bridge is fully funded by a RM 2.7 billion loan from China Export and Import Bank.

Furthermore the NCER is driven by agriculture unlike the IDR which is driven by foreign investment. Whilst the implementation of IDR is under the personal supervision of the Prime Minister, the NCER is handled by a GLC, Sime Darby.

How much Penang loses out can be seen by the Johor a total of RM 2,489 million comprising domestic investment of RM 879 million and foreign investment of RM 1,610 million in the manufacturing sector for the first three months of 2007. Penang pales in comparison with only RM 178 million comprising RM 81 million in domestic investment and RM 97 million in foreign investment. The difference in investor interest and importance between IDR and NCER or between Johor and Penang can be seen by the difference of investment between RM 2,489 million and RM 178 million! (see table below)

Sime Darby is too busy involved in creating the largest listed palm oil firm in the world. The RM 30 billion merger between GLCs, Sime Darby, Golden Hope Plantations and Kumpulan Guthrie into Synergy Drive Bhd will see it being listed in November as the second-largest company on Bursa Malaysia with a market capitalisation of about RM48.5 billion. Besides the main three companies, the five other related companies involved in the merger are Guthrie Ropel Bhd, Highlands & Lowlands Bhd, Mentakab Rubber Company (Malaya) Bhd, Sime Engineering Services Bhd and Sime UEP Properties Bhd.

Upon completion of the merger, Synergy Drive is expected to have a combined workforce of about 107,000 people. Will Sime Darby be focused on the NCER when they are busy combining the three large firms and 5 smaller firms into one productive entity?


(18/7/2007)

[haze]

ehe.. ini oposition punya org. jgn layan la.

even org kedah n perak pun jelous dgn project kat penang tue.

[Irwin]

but it's claerly that Penang has lost its competitiveness in attacting foreign investors to Johor under NCER...