Johor

Home to 3.6m people spread over 19,016 sq km, Malaysia’s most southerly state, Johor, has long played a key political and economic role in the country’s development. On the Strait of Malacca and sharing a border with Singapore, it has the country’s busiest trans-shipment hub and benefits from its position at the crossroads of some of the world’s most important trading routes. Over the past decade much development has focused on the Iskandar Malaysia project, one of five regional growth corridors currently under way in Malaysia, and the most successful in terms of investment committed. The state has improved key roads and other infrastructure as investors have pumped money into education, new industries, tourism and manufacturing. This chapter contains an interview with Ismail Ibrahim, Chief Executive, Iskandar Regional Development Authority.