November 12, 2015: The Federal Government of Malaysia has approved an allocation of MYR3.9 billion ($890 million) for the implementation of 62 high impact projects in the state of Pahang, situated on peninsular Malaysia’s east coast.
The projects were undertaken via the East Coast Economic Region Development Council (ECERDC), and are part of the 9th and 10th Malaysia Plans.
“Since the establishment of ECER in 2007 until November this year, Pahang has attracted MYR41.5 billion ($9.5 billion) worth of private investments, or 49.5 per cent of the total cumulative investments in ECER to date. This will create 43,121 new jobs for the locals,” said ECERDC in a statement on Thursday.
The statement was issued in conjunction with the third Implementation and Coordination Committee of the East Coast Economic Region (ICC ECER) of Pahang meeting chaired by Pahang Menteri Besar (chief executive) Adnan Yaakob.
ECERDC also recounted that its Human Capital and Entrepreneurship Development Programmes such as empower ECER, entrepreneur ECER, ECER Talent Enhancement Programme (ETEP), TERAJU@ECER and poverty eradication programme Pekan Agropolitan has benefited almost 30,000 locals who are currently enjoying higher incomes and improved academic grades through their participation in these programmes.
It said, the ECER human capital and entrepreneur development progammes will ensure the availability of skilled talent in ECER, who are able to meet the needs of investors as well as establish a strong pool of local entrepreneurs who are able to support the business ecosystem in the region.
‘entrepreneur ECER’, an entrepreneurship development initiative implemented in collaboration with Standards and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia (SIRIM), Agrobank and Maybank has benefited over 2,000 entrepreneurs in ECER, of whom 957 are from Pahang, ECERDC said.
Of this number, 639 entrepreneurs from the state have received financial assistance through the ECERDC-Agrobank soft loan scheme as at September 2015, while another 270 have benefited from the ECER-Maybank Entrepreneurship Scheme.
“Another 48 entrepreneurs have also gained from product development and marketing training provided under the ECERDC-SIRIM collaboration, that aims to raise the business of participants to the next level, including exporting their products overseas,” it said.
The TERAJU@ECER initiative, introduced in line with the Government’s Bumiputera Economic Empowerment Agenda, has also benefited 147 ‘bumiputera’ (native) companies in ECER, including 43 companies in Pahang.
Another 12 ‘bumiputera’ companies, with total cumulative investments of MYR259 million, have obtained MYR32.7 million worth of facilitation fund under the TERAJU Facilitation Fund initiative as at September 2015.
