JOHOR BAHARU (Johor, Malaysia), June 23 (Bernama) -- Johor Petroleum Development Corporation Bhd (JPDC) is focusing on investors from China, Japan and South Korea to invest in petrochemical-related industries in the Pengerang Integrated Petroleum Complex (PIPC).

Chief Executive Mohd Yazid Ja'afar said the PIPC project, which would generate billions of ringgit in investments, was expected to be operational in 2019.

"However, the Chinese investors that we are focusing on are those in the second tier, not the first tier. 

"The first tier consists of big companies that have ventured into the United States market and others...the second tier investors are already big to us," he said to reporters after the signing of memoranda of understanding (MoUs) between JPDC and four agencies here late Wednesday.

He said focus was given to the three countries as they have high technology that could be shared with the local companies.

Meanwhile, the four agencies involved in the MoUs are Bumiputera Agenda Steering Unit (Teraju) of the Prime Minister's Department, SME Corporation Malaysia, Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia Bhd (CGC) and SME Bank Malaysia Bhd.

Present to witness the event was State Public Works, Rural and Regional Development Committee Chairman, Hasni Mohammad while Teraju was represented by its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Husni Salleh; SME Bank by its Group Managing Director, Mohd Radzif Mohd Yunus; CGC by its President and CEO, Mohd Zamree Ishak; and SME Corporation by its Deputy CEO, Rizal Nainy.

Mohd Yazid said the MoUs were aimed at providing financing facilities to the small Bumiputera entrepreneurs to help them start a business or as additional capital to expand their respective businesses.

However, the funding allocation for this purpose had not been finalised, he said.

"Our focus is for the Pengerang areas and to-date, we have identified over 490 entrepreneurs, some of whom had been given training last year," he said.

He said the entrepreneurs would be involved in supporting services industry such as hair salon, retail and laundry to support the presence of the oil and gas industries in Pengerang.

Pengerang is located at the south eastern tip in Kota Tinggi district, the state of Johor, Malaysia.

-- BERNAMA