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http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/...e-running-out-singapore-sets-sights-on-johor/
The island republic’s growth was being hampered by a lack of physical room for expansion.—Reuters pic
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3 — Singapore is joining forces with Malaysia to develop Johor into the republic’s new hinterland catering to multinational companies, industry, tourism and housing as the city state finds itself running out of space to expand, reported the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) today.
The financial paper said that the sometimes-frosty relations between the countries were warming up and scepticism over the Iskandar Malaysia special development region were also melting away, helping make Singapore the largest source of investment in Iskandar this year.
Long maligned for crime, projects such as LEGOLAND Malaysia, outlet shopping mall Johor Premium Outlets, and Hello Kitty Town — the first outside Japan — are helping the region take on some lustre and could even make Iskandar the Orlando of Asia, wrote the WSJ.
In startling contrast to the thousands of Malaysian schoolchildren streaming across the causeway every morning, there are now even plans to bus Singaporean students to Johor to attend UK-based Marlborough College — Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton’s alma mater — which opened for admissions this year.
WSJ said that while Singapore initially feared competition from Iskandar, attitudes started to change as it became clearer that the republic was bumping up against its growth limits, with a large percentage of the island now built up and businesses being squeezed by high costs.
Iskandar was conceived during the Abdullah administration and received significant backlash from some conservative Malays who feared that Johor would be swamped by Singaporeans.
The vocal outbursts, including from former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who reportedly said that Iskandar would help Singapore expand its sovereignty and “drive” Malays into the “forest”, also added to Singaporean concerns about Iskandar.
In 2010, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak managed to resolve the long-standing dispute over Malaysian-owned railway land in Singapore, which led not only to a new era of more cordial relations between the two countries but also several landmark deals including a RM3 billion jointly-developed iconic wellness resort in Iskandar.
WSJ noted that Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said earlier this year that it was in his country’s interest that Iskandar Malaysia should prosper.
Steering some investment from Singapore to the Johor area would also at least help businesses stayed in the region, with some of the jobs and support services potentially benefiting Singapore.
Nicholas Holt, Asia-Pacific director at real-estate company Knight Frank, told WSJ that Singapore’s increasingly vocal support for Iskandar “has inspired confidence.”
He also noted that 2012 may prove to be an inflection point where Iskandar really starts to take off.
Singaporeans are also becoming less wary about moving to Johor, a place they have long associated with crime and lower standards of living, as more of its citizens become tempted by gated communities that offer swimming pools and golf courses, amenities that are largely out of reach back home.
The downside for locals was the surge in prices accompanying Singaporean interest.
WSJ noted that homes prices in Nusajaya have jumped 140 per cent in the past five years, with double-story terrace houses soaring 52 per cent in the last year alone, while apartments now sold for 106 per cent more than in 2010.
Singapore-based expatriates are also increasingly finding Johor more alluring due to the disparity in real estate prices.
The Singapore Straits Times reported last week that a expatriate community working in Singapore but living in Johor is growing in Iskandar, thanks to cheaper and bigger homes.
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