Eco World Development Group Bhd (EWDG) partner with China state-owned PowerChina Group Ltd to develop an RM850 million industrial land in Selangor.

Both parties inked a conditional joint-venture as well as land purchase agreement today to facilitate the collaboration of developing Phase 2 of Eco Business Park V (EBP V) in Puncak Alam.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, Malaysia's special envoy to China, Tan Kok Wai and Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun witnessed the signing ceremony.

EcoWorld Group chairman Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin said the partnership with PowerChina was a start of bigger ventures to come.

“Our partnership with PowerChina will position Eco Business Park V as a strategic industrial hub for manufacturers from China looking to relocate to Southeast Asia.

"With more foreign investors coming into our high technology industrial parks, Eco Business Park V would offer high skilled employment opportunities for the people of Selangor," Liew said.

PowerChina Group chairman Xia Jin said the joint-venture serves as a platform for "peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit for both countries."

"PowerChina's venture into Malaysia is that of mutually beneficial partnerships. We will ensure the success of this project with EcoWorld in Selangor," Xia said.

The agreements will see PowerChina buying 117.35 acres of industrial land from Paragon Pinnacle Sdn Bhd, a 60:40 joint-venture owned by EcoWorld and the Employees Provident Fund, for RM240.2 million.

Both companies will establish a 60:40 joint-venture company dubbed Eco World PowerChina Business Park Sdn Bhd, to develop Phase 2 of EBP V.

EWDG group president and chief executive officer Datuk Chang Khim Wah said the deal required shareholders’ approval and expected it to take six months to materialize.

"Over and above what EcoWorld is offering in our business parks, we are sourcing industries from China that can contribute to the technology and skillsets in Malaysia," he said.

The industrial park would cater to manufacturers who want to relocate from China to Malaysia, hoping to avoid the ongoing US-China trade war, Chang added.

 
Source: www.nst.com.my