PM Najib to unveil Bumiputera Economic Transformation Roadmap 2.0

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak will unveil the Bumiputera Economic Transformation Roadmap (BETR) 2.0 tomorrow in the quest to strengthen the economic participation of the community.

He said one of the initiatives introduced by the government was the "Carve Out & Compete" initiative, in which at least 40 to 50 per cent of contract values, vendors or business opportunities in any big projects would be given Bumiputera companies.

"This initiative will help qualified Bumiputera succeed through healthy competition," he said in a post on Facebook and Twitter today.

"BETR under the Bumiputera Agenda Steering Unit (Teraju) is an important step to strengthen Bumiputera participation in the economy through the creation of wealth and balanced participation in employment in high value-added fields, as well as developing entrepreneurship," he said.

In the posting, the prime minister also uploaded an infographic on the progress of the "Carve Out & Compete" initiative involving retail space on the MRT Line 1.

The infographic depicts that 21 retail units or 51 per cent of retail space offered by MRT Corp were awarded to nine Bumiputera companies as at Feb 28.

In the construction sector, the Carve Out constitutes RM48.31 billion gross development cost of RM106.6 billion as at 28 Feb.

Launched by the prime minister in November 2011, BETR sets out six principles of the economic transformation, namely market-friendly, need-based, merit-based, transparent, pro-growth and sustainability in order to build competitive advantage.

The recent BETR 2.0 Indications lab results recommended a method to further expand the scope of ministries so as not only to provide the best service to the people, but also to increase Bumiputera participation in the economy based on the BETR 2.0 principles.

-- BERNAMA