Forest City’s SFZ to be proposed under the Johor-Singapore special economic zone

ISKANDAR PUTERI: Johor government is proposing to put Forest City Special Financial Zone (SFZ) under the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ).

Johor investment, trade, consumer affairs and human resources committee chairman Lee Ting Han said the matter has been discussed internally and will be forwarded to the JS-SEZ working group for discussion.

“Based on the Forest City master plan, which was launched in 2016, the target is to develop the area into an integrated zone for medical, tourism, education and real estate.

“And back then, there was a plan to turned the island into a duty-free zone. Finally, with the assistance coming from the Malaysian government, this year we got the amendment to make Forest City Island One into a duty-free Island.

“The announcement on SFZ was made by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim about a year ago where works have been ongoing since then,” he said.

Lee said the reason Forest City was picked for the SFZ is due to its strategic location and its fits into the Forest City master plan which was designed way earlier.

“We are now adding in one more sector into Forest City development, which is financial sector. It gels together and the infrastructures there is almost complete, which is why we proposed SFZ in Forest City and currently being executed.

“Forest City proximity to Singapore, which is an international financial and logistic hub in the region, is an added advantage on how Forest City can complement Singapore. Our focus is how we can assist investors into SFZ as in Forest City, we need more soft infrastructure such as talent and connectivity to solve these issues,” he added.

Lee said financial industry in Johor was quite conventional and the state government would want to leverage on it by improving the state’s economic landscape by adding a financial industry that involved more advanced banking, capital and bond products.

He added this would also complement Singapore’s financial industry and there is a chance for the state government, through SFZ, to build a new industry in Johor.

“We are expecting more details on the incentives for the SFZ to be announced by end of August before the signing of JS-SEZ agreement by both Malaysia and Singapore.

“We would propose that the Forest City SFZ to be part of the JS-SEZ so that so that whatever is being enjoyed under the JS-SEZ can be enjoy under the SFZ,” he said.

Lee added that if the SFZ was placed under JS-SEZ, it would make the cooperation between both sides more formal and it also allow Malaysia to work on more concrete collaboration with Singapore.

He said among the ways that they were looking at is for financial investors in Singapore to expand their offices into Forest City.

Lee also said that there were many industries being discussed between the Johor government and Finance Ministry.

“Since the announcement of establishing the SFZ, we have met so many finance companies, foreign and domestic banks including fund managers.

“Many of them have raised the questions on incentives and what kind of special products they can offer. We are trying to carved up a niche area for them in Forest City.

“We want them to use Forest City as a place for them to aunch their products and tap into international markets,” he said adding that many industry players were keen on SFZ but are waiting for the incentives announcement.

Lee said once the announcements have been made, these financial industry players including foreign financial institutions, would likely want to invest in SFZ immediately.

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Media Statement by Forest City

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