Melaka Waterfront Economic Zone (M-WEZ) is an integrated mega development project in the coastal sea reclamation area of Malaysia's state of Melaka.
In an interview with Malaysia's 8TV financial program Money Matters, Dato' Ong Chong Yi, ANBOUND's Regional Chief Representative in ASEAN pointed out that while M-WEZ can benefit businesses and local residents, such project cannot rely solely on the Melaka state government. For M-WEZ to succeed, said Dato' Ong, it is crucial to obtain the support from the federal government, in terms of preferential policies, tax exemption, policies to attract talents, allowances and so on, so as to attract foreign investors to participate in the project. He cautioned that without investment and permanent residents, M-WEZ could risk to become yet another white elephant project.
The risks facing the Melaka state government, according to Dato' Ong, is that if the state government fails to bring industrial projects to the economic zone, M-WEZ might end up as a mere sea view property project.
Although there are some doubts that M-WEZ could possibly suffer the same fate as Melaka Gateway project if it is not handled well, Dato' Ong has a different opinion. He noted that Melaka Gateway is a private initiative, while M-WEZ is by the state government. As such, if Melaka Gateway faces funding or government-related issues, it would bring difficulties for it to develop. On the other hand, while M-WEZ could also face funding and investment issues, land and policy concerns will not affect it much.
When asked if the recent Melaka state election results would affect the project, Dato' Ong believes that it will not carry much impact, as the policies to attract foreign investors are decided by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) and its agency Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), which is run by civil servants and not politicians, hence Malaysia's investment policies will remain stable regardless of the changes of government.
Click here to watch the interview (in Chinese).
