Next 5-years Sungai Merbok Will Be the The Seine in South East Asia?

Time has come for Sungai Petani Municipal Council and Kedah State Development Corporation or PKNK to turn this Sungai Merbok like what Paris Town Council capitalize the Paris riverbank or famously known as The Seine as one of the major contributor to Paris economy. It is a 776 km long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France which is a major tourism destination for tourist visit. 

I remember visited partly The Seine where back in 2007. The scenery is fantastic and beautiful especially at night. I remember saw a quite a number of  floating restaurant boats offering nice food , wine and music entertains the couples and family. The atmosphere walla! If i am not mistaken, it is manages by Bateaux Parisiens. According to them, they entertained almost 3.5 million passengers per year.

Sungai Merbok With Mountain of Jerai View

Of course , we are far behind if compared with Paris but  Sungai Merbok  is also rich in history and has its glorious past as entrepot of  the 5th - 13th Century AD, where Chinese and Indian sailors called this place as "Suvarna Dwipa" means "Golden Peninsular".

What PKNK need to do? Just bring a good chef, buy a good restaurant boats and employ a dedicated operation team, with the right promotion strategies and full support by the State government and Federal government by collaborating with tourist agents and companies especially based in Penang, this place will be a hit for next 3-5 years. 

There is a lot of ways to turn this place. One of it, give this place to Genting group. I bet they will turn it in a big way. After a while, tap the E& O Hotel and approach those clients of the Eastern & Oriental Express luxury train.

  

Robin, Elouan and Mathilde at the Jetty of Sungai Merbok

I think not only me waiting for this to happen. In fact, if Mukhriz led government do this, it will be another significant change made by him for Kedahan's especially to residents of Sungai Petani.

Just to pen down some momento with Mathilde and her energetic sons. Perhaps, once she visited again next 2 years, at least PKNK has one restaurant boat to operate there? 

 

Arabs Large Bank Back End Operation in Sungai Petani?

As we know, Kedah Darulaman is a state with a majority of Malay population and at the same time has a vast interest in Islam. Furthermore, Kedahan has a lot of Arab speakers and interesting to note that every year Kedah government has sponsored students to study in Egypt .

With the current situation in Arabs region or MENA region which a never ending story, in my opinion, Mukhriz led government must actively engage the Arabs Banks to migrate their HQ operations especially the back end operation handling customer services through the call centre operation to Malaysia and of course to Kedah Darulaman.

If Tun Mahathir manages to convince Japanese, Taiwanese and Koreans shifted their operation to Sungai Petani before why can’t Mukhriz with his passionate in Palestine relief missions to bring Arabs Bank to operate their back end operation in a large scale in Sungai Petani?

It is understood , Malaysia is promoting Cyberjaya, Kulim Hi Tech Park or Penang or even Iskandar and Labuan which these cities have been classified either as MSC areas or a preferred offshore bank destination and suitable for the back end operation of the banking operation, however, Sungai Petani need a new industry with a creation of 1,000 minimum employees which could give a tremendous chain of economic effects to the residents of Sungai Petani.

By bringing this type of investment, indirectly, it will boost further the price of properties in Sungai Petani and definitely it will entice the ‘high income’ people in Klang Valley to migrate or move back to Sungai Petani or even to Gurun and Kulim. This effort should be regards as an option to reduce the congestion in Klang Valley. 

In fact, if Mukhriz government manages to bring an Arab related bank with sizeable employment opportunities to the locals of Kedahan’s, I believe, in the next election, Barisan Nasional (BN) will be elected once again as government for Kedah.This is the easiest and fastest way to bring a new investment in Kedah compared to an oil and gas projects. 

I told the previous government where back in 2003. Then repeat it again in 2008. And of course now in 2013. Those days, we might not have a talent pool as Malaysia just started a programme for Malaysia International Financial Centre. However, after 10-years, we already have the talents and Sungai Petani also is ready to accept this type of investment compared to those years.

Time to make a significant changes in Sungai Petani and Kedah Darulaman. By doing this, Mukhriz will be get a thumbs up not only from his own supporters but from his own enemy, Parti PAS. This effort will create his own legacy and 'disassociate' himself from his father shadows in developing the state of Kedah Darulaman.

                                                       

Market Capitalization Sungai Petani Based Companies Listed on Bursa Malaysia

1. Market capitalization or market cap is the total value of the issued shares of a publicly traded company

2. We may use this market capitalization as one of the economic indicators. As such, let us examine how many companies that from Sungai Petani are listed on Bursa Malaysia and what is their market capitalization.

3. The industrialist from Sungai Petani is listed on Main Market, Bursa Malaysia under the Industrial Product category are as follows:

• AE Multi Holdings Berhad
• Central Industries Corporation Berhad
• EG Industries Berhad
• Luster Industries Berhad
• Supportive International Holding Berhad
• Thong Guan Industries Berhad

4. The industrialist from Sungai Petani is listed on ACE Market, Bursa Malaysia under the Industrial Product category is as follows:

• Supercomnet Technologies Berhad

5. The property companies from Sungai Petani is listed on Bursa Malaysia under the Properties category as follows: 

• EUPE Corporation Berhad
• Keladi Maju Berhad

6. The market capitalization for each company mentioned earlier as at 16 August 2013 is as follows:

• Keladi Maju Berhad, RM 200.95 million 
• Thong Guan Industries Berhad , RM 171.48 million
• Luster Industries Berhad , RM 138.59 million
• EUPE Corporation Berhasd , RM 103.68 million
• Supportive International Holding Berhad , RM 59.77 million
• Supercomnet Technologies Berhad , RM 32.81 million
• EG Industries Berhad , RM 26.22 million
• Central Industrial Corporation Berhad , RM 21.97 million
• AE Multi Holdings Berhad , RM 19.82 million

Source: Bloomberg & FT

7. The total market capitalization for the above companies is RM 775.29 million. This amount is may consider minimal compared to RM 1.6 trillion total market capitalization of Bursa Malaysia.

8. With the total market capitalization of RM 775.29 million, these companies contribution to the population of Sungai Petani is estimated RM 1,800.00 per person. As the total number of Sungai Petani population is estimated around 421,350 people.

9. In other words, relatively , we may use RM 1,800.00 as an indicative figures for residents of Sungai Petani who is working in the private sectors. 

10. Moving forward, the population of Sungai Petani is growing. Therefore, this is a clear indicator , the State of Kedah Darulaman led by Mukhriz Mahathir need to emphasize his effort to bring more reputable companies located in Sungai Petani or assisting further the current companies especially those Sdn.Bhd companies to grow further and eventually list their entity in Bursa Malaysia.

Hot Spot for Industrialist in Sungai Petani

1. The common areas for industrialist to locate themselves are highlighted or shown in blue icon on the map. 

Hot Spot for Industrialist in Sungai Petani

2. The pioneer or matured industrial site in Sungai Petani are as follows:    

• Sungai Petani Industrial Estate
• Bakar Arang Industrial Estate
• Tikam Batu Industrial Estate
• MIEL Industrial Estate (two sites. One in Sungai Lalang and the other one in Bakar Arang)

Sungai Petani industrial estate , Bakar Arang industrial estate and Tikam Batu industrial estate are developed by PKNK or Kedah State Development Corporation.  

3. The potential areas to be developed are as follows :

• Cendana Industrial Estate
• Amanjaya Industrial Zone

4. The most advantage area is Cendana Industrial Estate as the area is     
     the most closest to the Penang port located at Butterworth.  
     Approximately around 40KM. The wide road and spacious land to be 
     developed could be seen as opportunity to the potential investors.  
     However, the only set back is the price of industrial land could be 
     expensive if compared to the matured site and the infrastructures    
     such as fibre network and drainage need to be improved.

Industrialist in Sungai Petani

Sungai Petani is well famous known amongst the industrialist as audio speaker town where back in late 80's to early 90's. The earliest part of industrialization in Sungai Petani, the industrialist mainly supported the industrial giants in Electrical and Electronic industry such as Matshushita, Sony, and Sharp. In fact some of them are still vendors for this group for different types of products.

I like to pen down the 'Big Boys' industrialist in Sungai Petani. In fact some of them are listed companies in Bursa Malaysia and have a worldwide presence via their investors.

1. Luster Group
2. HICOM-HONDA Manufacturing Malaysia Sdn.Bhd.
3.Unomedical
4. Supportive Technology Sdn.Bhd.
5. Sharp Roxy
6. Perusahaan Saudi
7. MDC
8.SMT Technologies
9. Lypometal
10. Thong Guan
11. AE  Corporation (M) Sdn.Bhd.

Most of the industrialist in Sungai Petani involved in the following industries:

1. Electrical & Electronic Industry
2. Automotive Industry
3. Food Industry
4. Plastic Industry
5. Wood based Industry
6. Building materials Industry

For the complete profile, please request via email to kedahindutrialestate@gmail.com