Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said 84 percent of the 87 previously announced Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) projects have been implemented todate, dousing scepticism on the feasibility of the projects.

Out of the 87 initiatives - 23 are operational, 50 have commenced and 14 are in progress.

Attributing this to the surge of RM21.3 billion in foreign direct investments (FDI) in the first half of this year, compared with RM12.1 billion in 2010, Najib said: “This represents a 76 percent surge in FDI compared with the RM12.1 billion in the same period last year.

“This clearly shows that foreign investors are increasingly looking at advantages offered by Malaysia,” he said.

Malaysia was ranked 21 in the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report, up from its 26th spot last year.

This includes eight new national key economic area (NKEA) initiatives and two initiatives that have already been unveiled previously include investment clusters worth RM1.4 billion in various sectors such as agriculture, education, aerospace, wholesale, retail and manufacturing.

Among the big players are Kuala Lumpur Kepong (KLK) Bhd, which secured a grant of RM706 million from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board is to develop the downstream sector of the palm oil industry, while Stand Aerospace Malaysia Sdn Bhd will invest RM177 million in developing high value engineering services .

Some of the unique ventures include the RM400 million investment by Vasseti Datatech Bhd to equip 1,410 sets of 42-inch television sets at 168 locations nationwide, including hospitals, 1Malaysia clinics and Health Ministry sites, to educate the public on better healthcare through ‘MedikTV’ especially in tackling outbreaks.

In a statement, Pemandu said that all costs in setting up this initiative will be borne by Vasseti and Medic Channel (M) Sdn Bhd.

It added that revenue to fund the project will come from advertising while the content will be determined by a committee which seeks to address the lack of information in prevention of common diseases.

“The MedikTV project transforms the way (Health Ministry) communicates with stakeholders, customers and staff and provides the avenue to educate the rakyat on healthcare and wellness matters,” said MedikTV’s chairperson Dr Rahman Ismail.

“Based on health ministries demographics report, the targeted viewership is 24.9 million annually comprising visitors and patients.”

Other initiatives

Among the others initiatives are:

  • Hannan Corporation Sdn Bhd to invest RM72.6 million in two aquaculture complexes that can produce 14,000 tonnes of white shrimp per annum.
  • Nova Laboratories Sdn Bhd to invest RM16.29 million in research and development as well as pre-clinical and clinical trials to develop three high value herbal products and its commercialisation.
  • Doorstep Retail Sdn Bhd to invest RM35 million by 2020 to provide a platform of convenience for small medium enterprises (SMEs) in terms of technical support and facilities to expansions into the e-commerce market. While Koperasi Jiwa Malaysia Bhd is to spearhead an initiative to provide a virtual mall platform for SMEs to enter the online sphere, with an investment of RM15 million.
  • DSEM Holdings Sdn Bhd to produce, distribute and markets its own brand of LED products,  diverting from its manufacturing portfolio.

“The ETP has two key thrusts - focus, through the 12 NKEAs, and competitiveness, to be delivered by the SRIs (Strategic Reform Initiatives) and we are making excellent progress on these fronts.

“Concurrently our economic ranking globally are improving and investors' confidence is on an uptrend.

“All these bode well for Malaysia as we strive to be a high-income nation. All of us, ministers and civil servants continue to pledge our commitment to realise the ETP and SRI, to make us rich, all of us, for a long, long time,” said Najib.