THE Penang government, through its agencies, is getting the industrial land ready to meet the future needs of investors.
“We are looking at about 300 acres of land at Bandar Cassia Technology Park, and another 600 acres at East Batu Kawan.
“In addition, the land acquisition in Byram, which we call Batu Kawan Industrial Park 2, will involve a few thousand acres of industrial land,” Chow responded to a media conference after the opening of the 27th edition of the prestigious SEMICON Southeast Asia (SEA) 2022 at Setia SPICE Convention Centre today.
Chow said the state would be focussing on Bandar Cassia Technology Park and East Batu Kawan before moving to Byram.
“Besides that, there are two areas in north Seberang Perai that have been identified and work currently in progress to be made available for investors.
“There are also smaller industrial parks which are supported by private land owners and developers for the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
“I believe these lands will be able to meet the needs of the investors for a period of three or up to 10 years into the future,” he said, adding that getting the land ready could take about two to three years.
Chow said there was still some land available at the Batu Kawan Industrial Park.
Regarding the need for talent, Chow said the Penang government is not complacent in addressing the talent shortage.
“We acknowledge the need, challenges and opportunities of the industry.
“Discussions and conversations with the captains of the industry would highlight the issue of talents.
“We have announced several initiatives (over the years) to address this issue. I don’t believe that it is solely the government’s role to produce world-class engineers. Collaboration with the industry is equally important,” Chow said.
Datuk Seri Lee Kah Choon, who is the special investment adviser to the Chief Minister, said that Penang is working towards becoming a high-income economy state.
Lee said that, for example, the Penang government carefully planned its Batu Kawan Industrial Park to not only be just an industrial park but also include universities to sustain it.
“To address the concerns of talent shortage, we have internship programmes to showcase job opportunities in Penang.
“We also have programmes to inculcate a passion for STEM subjects among the students,” he said, highlighting the state’s and industry’s support for the Makerspace workshops.
SEMI Global president and chief executive officer Ajit Manocha said the people-private-government partnership is crucial to address the talent issues.
Earlier, Chow and the VIPs visited the booths of the participating companies at the Setia SPICE Convention Centre and Setia SPICE Arena.
The delegates, which include Ministry of International Trade and Industry (industrial development division) senior director Datuk Hanafi Sakri, Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) chief executive officer Datuk Arham Abdul Rahman, InvestPenang chief executive officer Datuk Loo Lee Lian, Penang Development Corporation (PDC) chief executive officer Aziz Bakar and SEMI SEA president Linda Tan, visited the InvestPenang and PDC booths to check out the 48 pieces of canvas art which featured depicted Penang’s 50 years of industrialisation journey.
They also unveiled the state’s industrial map called the ‘Vanguards of Penang’s Industrial Transformation’ which was prepared by PDC.
Story by Christopher Tan
Pix by Muhamad Amir Irsyad Omar