By Yasmin Ramlan
GOMBAK, Jan 28 — Selangor aims to continue achieving more robust growth in the gross domestic product (GDP) and will be able to compete with major cities in Southeast Asia by 2025 with several development projects launched since 2022, says Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari.
Citing Selangor’s economic growth of 11.9 per cent in 2022, which surpassed Malaysia’s 8.7 per cent, Amirudin expressed his optimism that the state would be able to repeat its economic success this year.
“This year, we expect to achieve better GDP growth than national. And InsyaAllah (God willing), with the plans that I had presented in 2022, by 2025, not only are we aiming to uphold our economic performance, but we will also be able to compete with cities in Southeast Asia such as Jakarta, Bandung, Phnom Penh, Bangkok or other developing areas,” he said in his speech at the Gombak Parliament Hari Prihatin Rakyat: Entrepreneurship and Cultural Carnival, here today.
Amirudin, who is also the Gombak MP, shared some of the state government’s plans for development opportunities, such as the Sabak Bernam Development Area (Sabda) under the First Selangor Plan (RS-1), involving the development of high-value crops on an area of 1,317 hectares and estimated to generate up to RM248 million in revenue annually.
Announced in July 2022, some of its projects include the development of the Sekinchan Seafood Landing Complex, R&R facilities and the Air Manis business hub.
Meanwhile, on a separate matter, Amirudin lauded Yayasan Hijrah Selangor (Hijrah) for producing successful entrepreneurs under its programme.
However, the Menteri Besar reminded the participants to pay off their outstanding loans, emphasising that the funds would be redistributed to other eligible entrepreneurs.
“This is a loan, not a grant. Repayment is mandatory since the funds are redistributed for future use to create a productive cycle that promotes entrepreneurial growth,” he said.
On January 11, Hijrah chief executive officer Datuk Mearia Hamzah said that the agency is engaging with collection agents to retrieve outstanding loans that have ballooned to over RM100 million from some 16,000 businesses since 2015.
She said some 300 borrowers have been identified to have not fulfilled a single loan repayment and have since been blacklisted in the country’s credit reporting agency CTOS.
State executive councillor for entrepreneurship Mohd Najwan Halimi said on November 14 of last year that over 15,000 borrowers had fallen behind on their repayments, accounting for 22 per cent of the RM135 million in total loans.
He said 58,885 individuals have received loans through the programme, totalling RM780 million.
