State govt to ensure Muar becomes O&G hub – Johor MB
06 Mar 2022
The Johor government wants to make Muar district located in the northern part of the state as an oil and gas (O&G) hub with the involvement of private investors.
Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Hasni Mohammad said the development, spanning a 920-hectare area, was set to be a game changer for the district.
There were also plans to turn Muar into Malaysia’s Furniture City, besides addressing the issues of illegal factories as well as raw materials supply for the furniture industry, he said.
“I believe many jobs can be created, many ideas that we can bring to the northern Muar district. Previously, Muar is said to be a town for retirees, but I believe in the next five years, it (development plans) would lay the foundation to depict to the Muar community that the town’s image will change,” he said in a Suara Johor programme on Bernama TV today.
Meanwhile, Hasni said the development of the integrated transportation system, Rapid Transit System (RTS) from Bukit Chagar to Johor Bahru would also help in boosting economic growth in the state and control traffic congestion at the Johor Causeway.
“… proposal for the development of Light Rail Transit (LRT)…can be undertaken. This is not just pipe dream…we have RTS.
“Why we carry out the RTS from Bukit Chagar to Woodlands is because for decades people using the Johor Causeway are faced with congestion for two, three hours to go to work every day and in the evening, another two, three hours to go home.
“It will be implemented. For the first phase of RTS, it is proposed that it will go through Jalan Tun Razak,” he said.
In empowering Johor’s economic growth through the integrated public transportation system, Hasni said the state government will also build the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) across the state.
The Pontian district will be developed to become one of the locations for the sighting of the new moon to determine the start of Ramadan.
“Don’t follow the method of 20 years ago. We move forward, a new modern observatory station will be built, not only that but an astronomy centre will be developed,” he said.
Hasni said all development plans are included in the Ikhtiar Barisan Nasional (BN) manifesto for the Johor state election as future action plans for the state in the next five years.
“These action plans we bring will be implemented. That’s besides the narrative to further strengthen the plans by the Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA), augment the East Coast Economic Region (ECER) and successfully undertake the Indonesia–Malaysia–Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) in Johor,” he added.
Source: Bernama
