Help us build up infrastructure, Syria tells Malaysia

By Rupa Damodaran
2011/02/12

SYRIA, which has embarked on a comprehensive reform program that offers the private sector a bigger role, wants Malaysian businesses to be a major player in its infrastructure development.

Deputy Prime Minister of Syria Abdullah Al-Dardari, who is in Kuala Lumpur, said the country’s public private partnership (PPP) also provides opportunities in transportation.

Speaking at a dialogue meeting with Malaysian businesses yesterday, Abdullah said Syria is eying investments totaling US$100 billion (RM304 billion) between 2011 and 2015, with US$63 billion (RM191.52 billion) from the private sector.

“We are keen in co-developing an industrial park with Malaysians in the east region, which provides the right location for investors to export to Iraq, Europe and the Gulf,” he said.

Investors in the park will enjoy 10 years’ tax breaks and 100 per cent equity in business ownership.

Malaysia is keen to be part of Syria’s development in areas covering roads, highways, bridges, water works, housing, telecommunications, solid waste management and power supply.

Both countries see a close cooperation, which will provide access to the ASEAN and Asian market as well as the growing Middle East.

The Construction Industry Development Board chairman Datuk Ir Hamzah Hasan said Malaysian contractors had secured two projects in Syria worth e108.1 million (RM447.53 million). One is worth e40.65 million (RM168.29 million) and the other, which is under construction, is valued at e67.41 million (RM279.08 million).

According to CIDB, Malaysian contractors were currently undertaking 96 projects worth e9.62 billion.

Between 1987 and December 2010, Malaysian contractors undertook a total of 652 projects worth e21.94 billion (RM90.83 billion).

Malaysian contractors, said Hamzah, had made their mark in India, Bosnia, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Sudan, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and the Middle East.

Source: Business Times.
Link: http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/20110211233333/Article/.