Friday 29 Mar 2024
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SERI KEMBANGAN (Oct 17): Malaysia needs to make use of advanced technology from China to catch up with the fast pace of global development, said Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.

“Like any other country, Malaysia is following the innovation and smart creation trend in China, as it would help spur the country's economy and development,” said Liow.

Liow also said Malaysia must fully utilise the Internet and technology, especially from neighbouring countries, to help enhance its economic growth.

“We cannot continue to (make) use (of) intensive foreign workers products or projects to fast forward the economy. The government has made the decision to push the construction sector as much as we can. So, we welcome the Chinese to Malaysia to work with us to come out with an innovative product for our construction sector,” said Liow.

In conjunction with the unveiling ceremony of the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) station concept designs today, Liow said the HSR is a game-changing project for Malaysia to fast forward the economy.

“We are turning Malaysia into an ASEAN Hub, that's why after we launched this HSR project, Thailand now wants to discuss with Malaysia to connect KL to Bangkok using the HSR,” Liow added.

“When the Prime Minister visited Thailand earlier [this year], the two governments did discuss the proposal. It is still in the infancy stage (and) we need to set up a working committee to discuss this. It's still too early because we have to implement the HSR for the southern track first. We have to complete the high speed rail from KL to Singapore first,” said Liow.

He was speaking at the 2017 Malaysia Belt & Road "China Smart Creation" Construction Industry Products & Solutions Campaign. The event also introduced the China Smart Creation (CSC) Smart Eco-valley @ Bentong township.

“This development (the CSC Smart Eco-valley @ Bentong) will be one of the latest artificial intelligence (AI) cities, which is also eco-friendly. So, I welcome this development, as it will change the landscape of Bentong to be more eco-friendly, and promote eco-tourism in Bentong. It’s in line with the national and state aspiration to turn Bentong not only into a satelite town or a garden city but also an AI city,” said Liow.

According to Quantum March Sdn Bhd group chief executive officer Datuk Dr Clement Tan Wei Loon, the joint development will be the first 100% smart city using China’s smart creation and solutions.

“Very soon, we expect to see some collaboration with China State governments and China state-owned companies,” Tan added.

He said construction work on the project, with a gross development value of RM3.5 billion, is expected to start by this year end and will take about 18 to 24 months to be completed.

When asked if Quantum March will be replicating this project in other parts of Malaysia, Tan said: “Yes...We will also be organising 100 workshops for developers to implement green and smart solutions into building affordable housing.”

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