A shopping mall overseas to feature nothing but Malaysian products could very well help contribute RM2.2 billion to the country’s gross national income by 2020.

idris jala at chinese economic congress Minister in Prime Minister Department Idris Jala gave the public a sneak preview of several projects that the government may undertake to boost national income - and one such is the ‘1Malaysia mall’.

According to the senator, the ‘1Malaysia Mall’ will bring local retailers and shopping mall operators together to set up mega-malls overseas through government-to-government negotiations.

“If the government work together with all retailers and go to, for example China, and tell the Chinese government that we would like to have a 1Malaysia mall in Beijing, we probably can easily get land approval and then we can bring 200 retailers there,” he said when delivering his speech at the Chinese Economic Congress in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon.

MRT project in the pipeline

Idris Jala, who is also the CEO of the Performance and Delivery Unit - one of the main thrust of the Government Transformation Plan - said the government has also identified several other projects that the Najib administration may undertake.

In an ambitious plan to turn Kuala Lumpur into a more vibrant metropolis, a Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system similar to the model used by Singapore, as well as the river revitalisation programme may be in the works.

If implemented, he said that the MRT will cover central business districts, the financial districts as well as the suburban areas, allowing six million people to travel to and from the Greater KL city centre smoothly.

“I hope that come year 2020, we can live in a place like Port Dickson and come to work in KL,” he said when presenting his paper at the session titled ‘The Thrusts of the New Economic Model and the 10th Malaysia Plan’.

A few major construction companies have recently expressed interest in bidding for the mammoth RM43 billion MRT project - considered the country’s biggest mega-project.

Describing today’s announcement as a “sneak preview”, Idris kept the audience on tenterhooks when he said that the government will reveal more come Sept 21.

 

He expressed confidence that these projects can be achieved, saying that the government has already secured funding from the private sector.

 

“About 80 percent of the investment in the projects will come from the private sector, and seven companies are already willing to sign a memorandum of understanding,” said the former corporate manager.

High-income economy

 

Calling them “entry point projects”, the former national carrier MAS CEO also explained that they were identified in the National Key Result Areas lab in June and July, and that the proposals have been submitted to the respective ministries.

 

“Based on our estimation, we can achieve high-income economy (an income of RM47,500 per annum) by 2020,” he said.

Idris had famously said in May that the country risks becoming bankrupt by 2019 if the government refuses to cut its expenditure in subsidising essential goods.

After sparking a huge uproar, which also saw the Prime Minister Najib Razak going on a fire-fighting mode , the government did eventually raise the prices of fossil fuels, sugar and cooking gas in July.