Update investment progress following MoUs with Chinese partners, govt told

 

Noor Azlan Ghazali has called on the government to establish a reporting method to enable the public to monitor investment targets. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: An economist has called on the investment, trade and industry ministry (Miti) to provide periodic reports on the progress of investments following the signing of 19 memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with Chinese corporations recently.

Former Economic Action Council executive chairman Noor Azlan Ghazali said such reports will enable the public to monitor whether investment commitments have been realised.

He was responding to comments by investment, trade and industry minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz, who said the government had conducted a thorough screening process prior to approving the local companies’ involvement in the collaboration.

Ads by Kiosked

Noor Azlan said it was important for the public to understand that the process of attracting investments goes through several stages.

“(It will be) good if different stages are made more transparent in the sense that it gives us some idea of the progress and what is coming. At the same time, it will make the agencies involved more accountable,” he told FMT.

As a common practice, he said, Miti would report on the performance of such “approved investments”, adding that there may be circumstances which cause delays in the realisation of investments.

Noor Azlan said all potential investment agreements must be submitted to the national committee on investment (NCI) for evaluation before a decision is made.

“We hear about people signing MoUs and that there are potential investments. After some time, we don’t really know what is going on,” he said.

Noor Azlan called on the government to establish a standard reporting structure to see whether the investment targets set are achieved.

Ads by Kiosked

He said the reporting process alerts the government and the relevant agencies to obstacles faced so that they are better placed to tackle them.

On Wednesday, Tengku Zafrul said several ministries and agencies had undertaken a transparent and comprehensive screening process of the participating Malaysian companies before allowing them to enter into a partnership with their Chinese counterparts.

This was to ensure that the collaborations bring significant economic benefits to the country, he said.

Tengku Zafrul was responding to remarks made by Titiwangsa MP Johari Ghani, who had called on the government to explain how companies without a proper track record were allowed to sign MoUs during Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s recent visit there.

In the Dewan Rakyat on Monday, Johari asked Miti and the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) to explain the screening process which saw such companies selected.

He also asked how Miti would ensure that the signing of the 19 MoUs, said to be worth around RM170 billion, will benefit Malaysians across the board.

Tengku Zafrul clarified that the RM170 billion figure quoted was the total investment commitment, which included RM100.3 billion in investments from leading Chinese corporations and RM69.7 billion involving the 19 MoUs between local and Chinese businesses. - FMT