Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on October 12, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: A privately-owned Chinese construction firm announced yesterday it is open to participate in “federal projects that will benefit the people”, as it plans to invest up to RM10 billion in Malaysia over the next decade.

In a statement, China’s Pacific Construction Group Ltd (CPCG) said it will invest up to RM10 billion over 10 years in Malaysia in the areas of infrastructure development, high technology machineries, knowledge transfer and education.

Its founder Yan Jiehe, who is one of the 10 richest men in China, lauded Malaysia for being business-friendly and one of the most competitive countries in the region.

“We are open to increasing our investments, especially in federal projects that will benefit the people. With our track record of having successfully delivered complicated construction projects in China, we are confident that, in collaboration with local partners, we will be able to do the same in Malaysia,” said Yan in the statement.

“The country’s fundamentals are strong. You have excellent infrastructure, a robust ecosystem and a big pool of trilingual talents. Kuala Lumpur is thus a strategic launch pad for our expansion into Asia-Pacific,” he added.

To facilitate its investments here and in the region, CPCG has set up its wholly-owned unit, CPCI Holdings Sdn Bhd, here as its regional centre. CPCI is currently involved in a RM200 million construction project in Sahabat, Sabah.

“Within the next five years, we plan to employ 150 highly-skilled professionals, of which more than half will be Malaysians, as we position CPCI as a major player across the Asia-Pacific. These trilingual local talents will be invaluable to work in the group’s projects worldwide,” Yan said.

On the education front, the group said it aims to set up business schools and universities and provide scholarships to local students. For a start, it will provide up to 500 scholarships for construction and engineering students in local universities.

CPCG’s planned investment comes on the heels of Malaysia’s decision to cancel the multibillion-dollar Chinese-backed infrastructure East Coast Rail Link and construction of two gas pipelines worth US$2.3 billion (RM9.57 billion) that former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had signed with China.

Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had reasoned that with national debt of over RM1 trillion, Malaysia could not afford these projects. Also, these contracts had terms that were lopsided and patently unfair to Malaysia.

CPCG, founded in 1995, is ranked 96th in the 2018 Fortune Global 500 list, registering a revenue of RM319 billion last year.

The city operator has undertaken investment, construction and management of over 3,000 parks in over 1,000 cities across China.

Its ongoing projects include the designing of a fourth metro line in Kiev, Ukraine, valued at US$2 billion (RM8.3 billion).

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