KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 11): A privately-owned Chinese construction firm announced today 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 investment especially for 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 eco-system 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 established its wholly-owned subsidiary CPCI Holdings Sdn Bhd in Kuala Lumpur 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 region. These trilingual local talents will be invaluable to work on the group's projects worldwide," Yan said.

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

Founded in 1995, CPCG 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 more than 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 or RM8.3 billion.