This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on November 4, 2015.

KUALA LUMPUR: Property developer United Malayan Land Bhd (UMLand) will launch the first integrated halal biotech park in Johor, estimated to carry a gross development value of RM1.5 billion, next month, for which it will target local small and medium enterprises involved in the bio economy as tenants. 

UMLand has also applied for the halal park to be HALMAS-certified by Halal Industry Development Corp (HDC).

The halal biotech park called Johor Biotech Park will be developed together with Johor Biotechnology & Biodiversity Corp (J-Biotech). The park is located in Felda Cahaya Baru, some 15 minutes from Johor Port in Pasir Gudang.  

“The HALMAS certification will allow companies operating within Johor Biotech Park to get a 10-year tax holiday. The park will have a regional marketing and clearing house, integrated packaging, warehousing and logistics centre, and a scientific and halal laboratory,” Mohd Noor Abd Salam, head of Tentu Teguh Sdn Bhd, told reporters yesterday.

Tentu Teguh is the subsidiary of UMLand that is undertaking the project.

To commemorate the strategic arrangement, UMLand and J-Biotech made a submission to HDC for the HALMAS certification during the opening ceremony of the World Islamic Economic Forum 2015 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre yesterday.

HALMAS is an accreditation given to halal park operators who have successfully complied with the requirements and guidelines stipulated by HDC. Among the requirements is for a sizeable number of knowledge workers and experts from the halal industry.  

The park will be developed over the next seven years, with the first phase to be completed in the first quarter of 2017, said Mohd Noor.

The first phase of the project, which involves a construction cost of about RM80 million, consists of 89 units of double-storey factories, shophouses, a dormitory that houses up to 600 workers and an international Islamic school.