The East Coast Economic Region (ECER)
Datuk Jebasingham Issace John, ECERDC CEO
The ECER covers an area measuring more than 66,000 sq km or more than half of Peninsular Malaysia. Its population of about 3.9 million represents 14.5 per cent of the total population of Malaysia.
The Master Plan for ECER will be the basis for the development of this region for the 12 years from its first launching.
By the end of the period, it will be transformed into a major international and local tourism destination, an exporter of resource- based and manufactured products, a vibrant trading centre and an infrastructure and logistics hub.
During the roundtable discussions, ECERDC chief executive offi cer (CEO), Datuk Jebasingham Issace John highlighted that, “From the perspective of the East Coast region, we saw an initial imbalance in terms of infrastructure.
In the early days, the focus was on the West Coast because it was more expensive to get infrastructure development out to the East.
“That was something we had to address as a priority. With the right infrastructure in place, the East Coast region has some very important and impressive possibilities for the development,” said Jebasingham.
He expressed satisfaction with the development of in- The East Coast Economic Region (ECER) frastructure in the region so far, noting that the major roads and expressways were not in place.
He highlighted that the current challenge was to take the development to the next level and achieve the levels of gross domestic product (GDP) growth the nation needed.
“At the moment, the growth rate in the region is less than five per cent.
We are looking at a minimum of six per cent GDP growth going forward,” the CEO explained.
He went on to reveal that the ECERDC had already identified specific projects and programmes in all these clusters – namely agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, oil and gas and education – to ensure that the target could be achieved.
On agriculture, Jebasingham said that the vast tracks of fertile land in the region made agriculture one of the key areas the authority was focusing on.
The region was known for its vast tracks of fertile land with great potential for development, not only in terms of crops but also livestock, such as cattle, sheep, bird breeding and fisheries.
“We have a significant oil palm cluster with large plantations in the region and the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) is one of our lead plantation owners in the East Coast,” said Jebasingham, who added further that ECERDC had been looking to develop the downstream part of the oil palm business.
The CEO noted that the region’s manufacturing base had seen great strides in terms of development with the automotive cluster in Kuantan, which had attracted popular marquees such as Mercedes and Suzuki.
Volkswagen would also begin manufacturing near the end of 2012.
However, Jebasingam believed that Malaysia had to raise its sights beyond merely domestic demand, noting that the Asia Pacifi c region alone represented a four-billion strong market.
“At least for ECER, we are focusing on China, Japan and Korea as our business partners from whom investments can come into the region.
This is a big market. Perhaps only 10 per cent or 15 per cent of our produced goods should be for domestic consumption.”