The Star, 20 December, 2006

Pahang to start tech park in Gambang

KUANTAN: Pahang will develop 432ha of land in Gambang here as a technology park that would include components such as a halal food hub, biotechnology, an information and communication technology (ICT) centre and an agritech centre.  

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob said the project would create activities that would bring about value-added products and boost growth in related sectors under the 9th Malaysia Plan.  

"The state will work closely with the Federal Government to develop Gambang as the main technology park in the eastern corridor.  

"We are also drafting a biotechnology masterplan to exploit the rich natural resources in the state," he said during the launching of the draft Pahang Structural Plan at the MS Garden Hotel here recently.  

He said the state has the biggest permanent forest cover in the peninsula at 1.55 million hectares while peat land was 97,400ha.  

With tax incentives and competitive land prices, investors would be drawn to set up their plants and make products such as vaccines and medicines through biotechnology research, he added.  

Adnan said Biotech Corporation, an agency formed to realise the national biotechnology objectives, had already identified 100 potential companies that could churn out products commercially.  

"Activities generated from biotechnology are expected to contribute products worth between RM45bil and RM3.15tril from 2006 to 2010."  

He said the industrial sector was expected to see rapid growth once a biodiesel berth measuring 240m is completed in the second quarter of next year.  

It would be used to handle biodiesel cargoes from factories in the Kuantan Port industrial area, he added.  

"Pahang has some 500,000ha of land planted with palm oil trees and its potential in the biodiesel production is huge.  

"As such, value-added activities should be expedited and more factories must be encouraged to set up operations here," said Adnan.  

The mentri besar also said the state would work with Malaysian Development Corporation to draw up a blueprint on developing ICT, agro-biotechnology, education, logistics and services, telecommunications and defence.  

The venture, expected to cost some RM12bil, would be the state's new source of income and guide Pahang to obtain the Multimedia Super Corridor status, he added.  

The centres of growth would be at Putra Square, Tanjung Lumpur and Gambang, he said.  

On the development of the Eastern Economy Corridor, Adnan said the state had held a series of meetings with Petronas which would play a key role in an area that stretched from Chukai in the north to Pekan in the south.