Along with the MADANI economy, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has announced Forest City, Johor as a Special Financial Zone when speaking at the Johor State Budget 2024 Tour dialogue ceremony, last Friday.
The move is aimed at increasing foreign investment into Malaysia in addition to boosting economic development around the area.
According to Anwar, apart from Johor's privilege of being a neighbor to Singapore and Forest City's complete infrastructure, he saw the importance of Johor and Singapore complementing each other.
He added that Singapore had a history with Malaysia and we should complement each other rather than compete.
Forest City was previously reported to have created thousands of job opportunities for the surrounding residents and provided many contracts to local contractors.
As the Minister of Finance, Anwar stated that several additional incentives will be provided in the special zone area including a special tax income rate of 15% for industrialists in Forest City, a special 'multiple entry visa' permit and a fast track for immigration between the special zone and Singapore.
He is confident that this initiative will further increase the attraction of investors with the facilities available in Forest City in terms of medicine, education and tourism.
He also insisted that the implementation will not be delayed once the policy has been determined and announced.
In another development, the Chinese real estate firm that is currently squeezed by the crisis, namely Country Garden, is also reported to be involved in the Forest City development project.
Country Garden reports that the $100 billion investment in the Forest City project in Johor is progressing as planned and with enough assets despite many judging the firm's financial level to be worrying.
Concerns like this are not new as Forest City in Iskandar Puteri has previously been accused of being a failed mega project.
However, Tengku Mahkota Johor (TMJ) Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim appeared to deny the allegations as baseless slander by certain parties.
The project has not only increased job opportunities for the people of Johor, but also contributed to the state's opinion in the form of taxes, dividends and others.
