(KULAI, Malaysia) Malaysia's first Cybercity will be developed in Indah Pura, Kulai, Johor, by the end of 2011, Johor Menteri Besar Abdul Ghani Othman said yesterday.

The eponymously named MSC Cyberport will be part of Iskandar Malaysia, and is set to be jointly developed by MSC Cyberport and Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor (KPRJ), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Johor state government.

Iskandar Malaysia is a special economic zone about double the size of Singapore with special incentives, including tax holidays, liberal investment rules and the absence of affirmative action policies that favour ethnic Malays, aimed at drawing foreign investment.

'Phase one of the project will have a gross development value (GDV) of around RM460 million (S$200 million) and will commence by the end of this year and be completed by the end of 2011,' said the co-chairman of the Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA Malaysia) before witnessing the signing of a memorandum of understanding between IRDA Malaysia and MSC Cyberport yesterday.

The chief executive officer of MSC Cyberport, Ganesh Kumar Bangah, said that Bandar MSC Cyberport will be developed over eight years with an estimated overall GDV of RM1.16 billion.

The first phase of the project on 13 hectares, he said, is expected to be ready in parcels by 2010 and will be fully completed by 2011.

He also disclosed that MSC Cyberport would next week sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a foreign developer that has experience in developing special IT economic zones in India and elsewhere.

Separately, Telekom Malaysia (TM) announced that it would invest RM1.9 billion over a period of 10 years to equip Iskandar Malaysia with a sophisticated broadband infrastructure.

Group chief executive officer Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa said that businesses in Iskandar Malaysia would benefit greatly from the high-speed connectivity which would allow sophisticated information, communications and technology applications to be implemented.

'The infrastructure that TM will deploy within the Iskandar Malaysia region will be supported by our extensive network,' he said at the signing of a MOU with IRDA yesterday.

He said that connectivity would be assured throughout Iskandar Malaysia, with speeds of up to 100 MBps for homes and one Gbps for businesses.

He also said that over 700,000 premises, comprising both residential and commercial, in Nusajaya, Western Gate Development, Johor Baru city centre, East Gate Development and Senai-Skudai would benefit from the investment. -- Bernama

This article was first published in The Business Times on May 14, 2008