JOHOR BARU, MALAYSIA - Iskandar Regional Development Authority (Irda) board of directors were told yesterday that Iskandar Malaysia had secured RM40.25 ($16.8billion) billion in investments, of which RM14.45 billion came in this year.

The figure showed that 85.6 per cent of the targeted RM47 billion total investments in Iskandar Malaysia by 2010 had been achieved.

Present at the meeting were Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman.

Others were Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Dr Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah, Economic Planning Unit director-general Tan Sri Dr Sulaiman Mahbob, Johor Secretary Datuk Abdul Latiff Yusof, Johor Economic Planning Unit director Datuk Hamsan Saringat, Khazanah Nasional Berhad managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar and Johan Holdings chairman Tan Sri Tan Kay Hock.

The directors were told that development was on track and investment momentum was being maintained.
They were also told that Newcastle University Medi- cine Malaysia (NuMed Malay- sia) and Cempaka International School would set up their base at Iskandar, poised to be the country's top educational hub.

Under the Ninth Malaysia Plan, RM6.83 billion had been allocated for Iskandar Malaysia. Irda had awarded RM452.79 million worth of projects since June.

Among them were three road development projects along the Jalan Yahya Awal- Abu Bakar Interchange, the Skudai-Senai Highway and Jalan Kolam Air, worth RM278.57 million.

Later, Abdullah and Ghani chaired the third advisory council meeting attended by council members Employees Provident Fund chairman Tan Sri Samsudin Osman and businessmen Tan Sri Kishu Tirathrai and Datuk Andrew L.T. Sheng.