Pahang Automotive Park (PAP) to be positioned as a Green, Automotive Industrial Park
to Attract New EV Vehicle Manufacturers
PAHANG, 5 AUGUST 2021: The Federal Government through the East Coast Economic Region Development Council (ECERDC) has successfully attracted a total of RM9.5 billion in committed investments to the state to-date this year, exceeding the targeted RM5.1 billion in committed investments for Pahang for the year 2021. This is anticipated to create more than 6,700 new jobs and 170 entrepreneurial opportunities for the rakyat in Pahang. The year has also seen ECERDC realising investments amounting to RM2 billion in the state.
The outstanding investment result during this challenging time is indeed a testament of the close cooperation between ECERDC, the Federal and State Governments, as well as relevant agencies that has led to this significant new investments varying from integrated highlands development, expansion of steel manufacturing plant and glove manufacturing in Pahang for 2021.
“It is my hope that the Federal government through ECERDC maintains its momentum in ensuring that the strategic projects and initiatives planned for the state, such as infrastructure works and human capital development programmes are continued to strengthen the position of the state as a preferred investment destination so that the economic benefits can be enjoyed by the local people,” said Pahang Menteri Besar, YAB Dato’ Sri Haji Wan Rosdy Bin Wan Ismail, after chairing the ECER Implementation and Coordination Committee (ICC) Pahang meeting which was held virtually today.
ECERDC, in capitalizing the momentum to promote further investment into Pahang is working closely with the State Government and Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) in holding more investment promotion activities in the second half of 2021 to attract investors in key economic sectors.
“Despite not being able to lead overseas investment missions or hold physical events, ECERDC has organised three webinars in the first half of 2021 to engage with and attract international investors. These include the Investment Opportunities in the East Coast Economic Region for Petrochemical and Automotive Industries webinar with the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), Malaysia: The Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Hub for ASEAN webinar, in collaboration with trade representatives from the Russian Federation, and the Investment Opportunities in Life Sciences and Medical Technology in ECER. These investment webinars saw over 900 potential investors participating and ECERDC remains confident of attracting new investments into ECER and the state of Pahang,” said En. Baidzawi Che Mat, Chief Executive Officer of ECERDC.
POSITIONING PAP AS A “GREEN AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRIAL PARK”
ECERDC will position PAP as a “Green Automotive Industrial Park” in collaboration with Malaysian Green Technology Corporation (MGTC), SIRIM and Asia Center of Excellence for Smart Technologies (ACES).
PAP is being enhanced to be an environmentally friendly industrial park equipped with energy saving features, solar powered renewable energy and a holistic waste management system, in line with the global transition to electric vehicles (EV) and the National Automotive Policy 2020 (NAP 2020). This initiative is expected to attract new investments in the manufacturing of EV.
Among the renowned brands currently in PAP are Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Isuzu, and Mitsubishi. PAP is also home to the DRB-HICOM University of Automotive Malaysia that provides skilled manpower for the automotive sectors and HICOM Automotive Manufacturers (M) Sdn. Bhd., one of the pioneer players at PAP.
PAHANG BARAT AS THE NEW GROWTH CENTRE
ECERDC is maintaining its focus in boosting economic growth in Pahang Barat through agriculture and tourism activities. Pahang Barat, which comprises the districts of Bentong, Cameron Highlands, Raub, and Lipis, with Jerantut and Bera forming Pahang Barat Plus, collectively have vast tracts of land to attract investments in high-value agricultural activities such as livestock, durian, tongkat ali, as well as beautiful destinations including highland destinations which could be further developed as tourism attractions.
The Pahang state government has identified suitable land in Pahang Barat for ECER Dairy Valley project which aims to raise the country’s Self-sufficiency Level (SSL) of fresh milk by 40% so as to reduce dependence on imported milk. ECERDC will also continue its efforts to drive the agrofood@ECER initiatives to address the food security concerns by focusing on farming sectors which include coconuts and fertigation crops such as chilis and tomatoes.
This growth area will be further supported by strategic infrastructure projects that enhance its connectivity such as the Central Spine Road (CSR), which will be pivotal in the overall economic development across Pahang and ECER.
HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT
ECERDC’s holistic programmes in raising the socio-economic well-being of the rakyat are empower ECER-Academic which focuses on improving students’ academic performance, empower ECER-Skills and Entrepreneurship which provides skills training and entrepreneurship knowledge to develop sustainable new entrepreneurs, entrepreneur ECER which empowers existing entrepreneurs to scale up their business and PENJANA-ECERDC which focuses on reskilling and upskilling to enable those who lost their jobs during the pandemic to find new employment.
The empower ECER-Academic programme has helped students from poor families to achieve better academic results despite challenges brought by the pandemic. In 2020, a total of 2,173 participating students in Pahang showed a commendable achievement in the SPM exam, with 92% of participants passing their exams compared to 46% passing before joining the programme.
One of the participants, Laila Zulaikha Binti Mohd Jafri from SMK Rompin scored 7As and 2Bs in SPM 2020. Laila, whose father is a carpenter, previously scored 1B, 2D, 3E and 2G, in her school exam before joining the programme. She was able to do her revision by utilising the empower ECER-Academic programme modules and despite challenges to go online, she had benefited greatly from the academic programmes organised.
In addition, ECERDC, via empower ECER and entrepreneur ECER continues to support micro-entrepreneurs and SMEs to survive the new reality by providing training to help them switch to e-commerce platforms to keep their businesses afloat as well as financial assistance. Between January and May 2021, a total of 173 existing entrepreneurs in Pahang received loans from Maybank and Agrobank amounting to RM5.5 million under the entrepreneur ECER programme to improve cash flow and working capital as well as strengthen their businesses, while 94 others benefited from the product development from SIRIM comprising branding and labelling to help boost sales.
MB PAHANG ENCOURAGES ACES I4.0 WEB APP PILOT PARTICIPANTS TO BE FUTURE READY
The Menteri Besar of Pahang also joined the ACES I4.0 Web App Pilot Programme virtual session conducted to encourage participants to equip themselves with the relevant knowledge for jobs of the future and to remain adaptable to technology advancements.
The ACES I4.0 Web App Pilot Programme was delivered through a series of webinars targeting SPM graduates under the empower ECER programme across ECER states.
Approximately 1,200 participants and 23 trainers across 11 locations in Pahang, namely Temerloh, Maran, Jerantut, Rompin, Pekan, Kuantan, Bera, Bentong, Raub, Lipis and Cameron Highlands were involved in the pilot programme, which ran over a period of three weeks until 31 July 2021.
The pilot programme involving around 3,100 students across the ECER with the aim to create awareness of Industry 4.0 among students and equip talents in ECER with skills and knowledge to tackle the demands of the future was concluded recently.
CONCLUSION
“Pahang remains at the forefront of economic growth in ECER, with strong contribution from the manufacturing sector. ECERDC is committed to ensuring this economic growth continues in the state, so that the benefits will spill over to other states as new strategic sectors and their respective value chains continue to grow and evolve across the ECER. As such, ECERDC will continue to implement high-impact projects and initiatives that will bring about long-term benefits to the economy and in raising the living standards of the people in Pahang,” concluded En. Baidzawi.