Swiftness in meeting investors' needs helps make Kedah the top investment destination

He said political stability and strategic location were also drivers of investment capital inflows into the state.

"I am very happy with this achievement. The move to introduce the Express Construction Permit (E10) has clearly benefitted investors, especially in terms of accelerating the process for them to start operations.

"Previously, investors had to wait three to four years before they could begin full operations, but with E10, the timeframe has been reduced and only 10 months are required," he said at a ceremony to launch the Kedah government's community service and flood relief mission to Selangor here today.

Muhammad Sanusi said this when asked to elaborate on the Malaysian Investment Development Authority's announcement yesterday that Kedah was the top recipient of approved investments in the country in the first nine months of the year with a total value of RM57.1 billion.

The level of investments recorded by Kedah far outstripped that of the second largest investment recipient, Sarawak, which attracted RM23.9 billion in investments, as well as Kuala Lumpur (RM22.5 billion).

Muhammad Sanusi expressed confidence that more investors would come to Kedah in future and bring economic spillover to the state.