Temasek Holdings and Penang’s state development agency, Penang Development Corporation (PDC), entered a joint venture to develop a $500 million mixed-use development project in the Malaysian state.
According to the media, the move came as both governments take further steps to strengthen their investment and trade links.
Dubbed BPO Prime, the mixed-use project will feature around 1.6 million sq ft of commercial space, which will be primarily focused on business process outsourcing activities, and residential space.
Located near Penang’s Bayan Baru Free Industrial Zone, the project will be planned and managed by Economic Development Innovations Singapore (EDIS), with groundbreaking targeted in 2015.
Chief Minister of Penang Lim Guan Eng unveiled the project yesterday.
“Penang’s outsourcing sector saw more than 20 percent increase in revenue last year. BPO Prime is a priority project that is part of the state government’s plans to transform Penang into an international outsourcing hub,” he said.
PDC and Temasek signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in May (pictured) to develop two projects in Penang – namely, BPO Prime and Penang International Technology Park. The two projects have a total development value of $4.4 billion.
The MOU came as the city state’s investment into Penang increased ten-fold from 2012 to 2013 to more than RM600 million (S$234 million). Mr Lim hopes the figure would increase further, as Penang’s manufacturing clusters and skilled labour can complement the regional expansions of Singaporean companies.
Image source: edis.sg
Muneerah Bee, Senior Journalist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories email muneerah@propertyguru.com.sg
