Johor eyes honeymooners

JOHOR BARU

Chief Minister Abdul Ghani Othman said that the state’s attractive locations could draw couples wanting to hold their weddings or honeymoons there,

“We need to learn from Bali, Hawaii and Singapore on how to attract these couples and honeymooners to come here,” he said, according to a speech read out at the launch of the Wedding and Beauty Fair in Johor Baru.

Mr Abdul Ghani also said that couples could hold “green” weddings at Johor’s parks and gardens,

He also called for good marketing strategies to lure tourists and suggested that Tourism Malaysia could promote Johor as a wedding destination.

Meanwhile, industry sources have told

International consulting firms will be appointed to study and evaluate various proposals for the rail system, the sources

said.

The high-speed rail system, which uses magnetic levitation technology, would boast trains which can reach speeds of up to 350kmh in two minutes.

The project is part of the Economic Transformation Programme that was announced by Prime Minister Najib Razak last month.— Johor has set its sights on becoming the next international honeymoon destination after Bali, Hawaii and Singapore, with its beaches on Desaru and the Mersing islands as its biggest draw.Bernama news agency reported.Bernama reported.The Star newspaper that a proposal for a high-speed train from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore will soon be submitted to the government.

PM Najib confirms 9 investment projects, says more to come

KUALA LUMPUR

“This shows that the ETP is already showing results,” Prime Minister Najib Razak said when launching the ETP roadmap.

“We will be announcing more confirmed investments in coming months.”

Mr Najib said the government was also currently negotiating with parties interested in 53 other projects under the ETP.

He added that, in the spirit of transparency, the ETP roadmap will be made available to the public online, so they can track the latest contracts awarded by the government.

“We are proving the sceptics wrong. The early wins show that by focusing on action and not unproductive talk, debates and arguments, results will flow,” Mr Najib said.

Among the nine confirmed projects are the setting up of a RM214 million wafer fabrication plant by German-based LFoundry in the Kulim Hi-Tech Park and construction of a RM1.2 billion six-star hotel and residence in KL Central by St Regis. — The Najib administration yesterday announced that it has signed agreements worth over RM30 billion ($12.5 billion) with nine companies to kick-start its ambitious US$450 billion ($581 billion) Economic Transformation Project (ETP).AGENCIES

$388 billion in Chinese loans at risk

BEIJING

The results of the investigation were published yesterday on the front page of the official

The probe is a first step in what the government has promised will be a thorough effort to clean up the mess left by a surge of stimulus spending to counter the global financial crisis last year.

Local governments, which are officially barred from borrowing, launched thousands of hybrid government company bodies as financing vehicles to get around the restrictions and fund their expenditures, much of which went to infrastructure.

According to the investigation, 24 per cent of the debt incurred by the local financing vehicles is fully backed by revenues from the projects that they have funded.

A second batch of loans, about 50 per cent of the total, will not be recoverable directly from the projects that they have funded. However, these will be covered by secondary sources, such as government revenues.

The third batch is the 26 per cent in serious trouble.

“With the third kind of loans, projects did not conform to regulations; fiscal guarantees did not conform to regulations and there will be serious risks in paying them back. For example, the loans have been embezzled or used as investment capital,” the

Large state-owned banks provided about 40 per cent of the loans to the financing vehicles, while smaller banks accounted for 26 per cent and government-controlled policy banks the remaining 30 per cent. — About a quarter of all loans to Chinese local government financing vehicles are at a serious risk of default, according to regulators, who estimate that 2 trillion yuan ($388.6 billion) of debt could turn sour.China Securities Journal.China Securities Journal reported.REUTERS