China Railway's US$2b investment in Bandar Malaysia will lead to more FDIs - Najib

As a major multinational player, CREC's confidence in Bandar Malaysia as a valuable investment underlies its confidence in Malaysia's economy.

Najib said CREC acted as an impressive first mover in Bandar Malaysia with its US$2 billion commitment that would attract further international players, many of whom had already expressed interests in the development.

"We believe this development would bring huge amount of foreign investments into Malaysia, starting from this US$2 billion investment by CREC, itself committed to bringing more investments to Bandar Malaysia," said Najib before signing a plaque marking CREC's commitment to have its regional office in Bandar Malaysia here.

CREC President Zhang Zongyan earlier announced that the company would invest US$2 billion to build its regional centre in Bandar Malaysia.

CREC is one of the world’s largest engineering and construction firms and also has businesses, among others, in industrial manufacturing, real estate development, and resources and mineral products.

As of 2015, it was ranked number 71 in Fortune 500, with a turnover exceeding US$100 billion per annum.

"A company like CREC moves very fast so we have to respond equally fast," said Najib.

CREC's development blueprint includes an integrated underground city model after Canada's Montreal underground city with dedicated space for financial and commercial centres, tourism and shopping facilities, high-end corporate offices and theme parks and theme theatres.

"Judging from the artist's impression...in the near future, this fully integrated city would be the largest underground development in the whole world," said Najib, adding Bandar Malaysia was set to be a new real landmark development.

The event underlies the Prime Minister’s focus on making Kuala Lumpur as a top global city and Malaysia a global destination of choice for international investors.

"This is part of our long-term plan to raise private sector investment, which produces tangible advantages for the people and our country.

"Last year, for instance, 4,887 projects were approved by the Malaysian Investment Development Authority and these are expected to create 180,240 new jobs," he said.

Najib praised the long-standing friendly ties between the two countries and said CREC's move would lure more investments from China, which has increased enormously in the last few years.

"If we take foreign direct investment stock from China and Hong Kong together, it has been increasing at a compounded annual growth rate of 22 percent over the last seven years, making it one of the fastest growing major sources of FDIs in Malaysia.