GEORGE TOWN: The Penang Development Corporation (PDC), the development arm of the Penang government, will spend about RM5 billion in the next seven to eight years, to ensure the success of its Strategic Plan 2024-2028, Sustainability Initiative and PDC GoDigital.
The strategic plan focuses on land innovation, asset innovation, business sustainability and smart professional, summarised as LABS.
PDC chief executive officer Datuk Aziz Bakar said there were 15 high impact projects planned out under the strategic plan to ensure its success.
He said the main focus was to increase PDC's land bank.
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"We expect PDC's existing land bank to be completely used up by 2030.
"As such, we have to start planning now to increase the land back.
"One of which is to acquire 3,000 acres of land in all three districts in Seberang Prai, which will cost us RM3 billion alone. This will enable us to open up new industrial parks to provide more job opportunities and to increase the state's economy. The increase in land bank will also be implemented through reclamation .
"All in all, we estimated that RM5 billion will be spent within the next seven to eight years," he told newsmen at the launch of the strategic plan by Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow here today.
Elaborating, Aziz said they were still identifying suitable plots of land.
"All this is aimed at creating a complete ecosystem to support the industrial sector.
"We intend to build a distribution hub, or logistics sector, near the Penang International Airport, which is scheduled for redevelopment. This is to support the industries.
"At the same time, we will also be developing workers' quarters, about four of them. One is by PDC and the other three are privatised, which can house more than 30,000 workers.
"All this is to encourage investors to invest here. When the infrastructures are in place, this will expedite things," he added.
Similarly, Aziz said PDC was also expediting developments in the Bandar Cassia Technology Park and Batu Kawan Industrial Park 3 (BKIP 3), which was launched by the prime minister recently.
"So, all this is PDC's efforts to continue to place the state's development in the forefront," he said.
Meanwhile, Chow expected more from the private sector would invest more in Penang's industrial parks.
He confirmed that one had started in Bertam.
"Besides PDC's efforts to open up more industrial parks, we cannot stop the private sector which see this as a great potential such that we have managed to attract huge investments.
"So we need more land to be offered to investors due to the surge in investment into Penang," he added.
