SHAH ALAM, February 17 – Chief Executive of the Selangor State Investment Centre (SSIC) Berhad, Dato’ Mhd Jabar Ahmad Kembali said Selangor had recorded an increase in approved investments to 302 manufacturing projects worth RM11.87 billion last year compared to 318 projects in 2007.

He said, based on statistics from the Malaysia Industrial Development Authority (MIDA) out of the 302 manufacturing projects which had been approved, 202 were new projects with investment values of over RM6.353 billion.

“The remainder are marketing projects and others with investment values amounting to RM5.518 billion,” he said adding that the amount was also the highest investment record ever since 2000.

He said this to reporters at the SSIC Berhad office, in Wisma MBSA, here this morning.

He said, the number of projects in Selangor exceeded other states, while its investment value placed it in second place after Sarawak.

He said, throughout last year the state government had approved 234 project placement applications in Selangor with the participation of about 100 projects from foreign investors while the rest were local.

“Out of that number 29,340 potential employment opportunities were created,” he said.

He explained, out of the 234 manufacturing projects whose placements had been approved in 2008, RM5.274 billion were from foreign investors while RM5.856 billion more were local.

He said, the amount was more than had been recorded in 2007 whereby the total investments amounted to RM4.778 billion with 25,744 potential employment opportunities created.

He said, the investment-friendly policy would continue to be practised to draw investors to this state, with an investment target of RM12 billion this year.

“This year, SSIC Berhad will continue to encourage more efforts to promote Selangor as an industrial and investment state through investment and commercial missions to other countries,” he said. – MURIZA ABDUL HAMID