Imagine you are a SME business in.Singapore. You are doing pretty well and you would like grow your business to the next level. Many years ago, your best choice would be Batam. Today, if you still think Batam is a good bet, then a better bet would be Iskandar. Yes, in terms of exchange rate, Batam is still more value for money but that’s about the only real reason. Considering that you want to be at your factory every day, perhaps at 1030am? You can still have a breakfast with your family at 830 and only drive across using the second link at 945am and still arrive well before 1030am, depending on which part of Singapore you stay. Besides that, despite all those news about crime rates etc, the truth is all these are becoming better and not worse no matter which way you are looking at it.
Recently, Singaporean Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong said that all the SMEs who are seriously thinking of growing should seriously consider Iskandar. It has the advantages of lower costs and more land. They can do all these and at the same time stay close to Singapore. Come on, if the Prime Minister of South East Asian’s most advanced economy say so, who are we to argue or debate right?
Personally, I think he is right. In fact the integration of a closer economic relationship between Iskandar and Singapore meant that both sides grow much faster. On one side, too many businesses are fighting the ever rising costs and the fact that the competition is versus the world and not between the two middle sized economies. On the other side, Iskandar has just started to appear really attractive, so much that for some Chinese developers, Iskandar represents their largest foreign investment at this point in time! And Iskandar has lands…. lots of lands….. and imagine if both Senai International airport and Changi Airport, both being so near to Iskandar. If KLIA2 was built for 45 million passengers per year, Changi is already serving around 50 million per year today. Senai will handle 2 million this year.
Potentially, there’s so much to say. Realistically, a lot needs to happen. We shall see.
written on 10 May 2014.
Next suggested article: Linking KL, Iskandar, Malaysia – Singapore by HSR and RTS
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