KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia approved four projects in the manufacturing sector worth RM5.4 billion on December 12.
The projects will be located in Sabah, Johor, Selangor and Pulau Pinang.
International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Darell Leiking said one of the approved projects was an investment worth RM2 billion by a multinational glass manufacturer to produce float glass and photovoltaic functional glass at the Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park.
This investment is expected to create over 1,000 job opportunities, whereby 80 per cent will be Malaysians, he added.
“We look forward to attract more investments in the near future. For the first nine months of 2019, Malaysia recorded RM149 billion worth of approved investments in the services, manufacturing and primary sectors," he said in a statement.
Leiking said this was 4.4 per cent higher than the RM142.6 billion approved in the same period last year.
He said these investments involved 4,025 projects and will create an additional of 93,841 job opportunities.
Notably, approved investments for global establishments saw an increase of 185.7 per cent during the period, he added.
Leiking said the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) has secured 126 projects proposing to make Malaysia the Principal Hubs, regional offices or representative offices.
"These activities are expected to create job opportunities for 884 knowledge-based or highly technical skilled workers.
"These projects will also position Malaysia on course for greater integration into the global supply chain,” he said.
The Cabinet has empowered National Committee on Investment (NCI) as the sole approving committee for investments.
MITI and Finance Ministry co-chair the committee which deliberates and make decisions on investment projects received by all investment promotion agencies including MIDA, Regional Corridors, Halal Development Corp (HDC), Malaysia Digital Economy Corp (MDEC), BioEconomy Corp and the Ministry of Agriculture.