PENANG has to overcome challenges such as land scarcity and shortage of skilled workers to attract foreign direct investments (FDI), according to investPenang executive committee chairman Datuk Lee Kah Choon.

“We must also ask if we are producing enough people to meet the needs of the industry. Are we producing the right people?” he said in a talk entitled ‘Penang Economic Update’ at the Socio-Economic and Environmental Research Institute (SERI) office on Jalan Brown. .

The talk was organised by the Australia and New Zealand Graduates Association of Malaysia (ANZGAM) in collaboration with SERI.

Lee said there was not much land in Penang but there were lots of private land areas which were undeveloped.

“For example, I am excited with the mixed development in Batu Kawan. There’re 6,000 acres of land there and I hope it could be a saving grace for Penang.

“The other problem is that most of our country’s talents are overseas. We have to think of retaining our human talents here in Malaysia,” he added.

He said recent foreign investments in Penang were in the fields of connectors, light-emitting diode (LED), supporting LED industry, electronics, medical devices and measurement and automation.

“Investment potential includes electrical and electronics (E&E) and information and communications technology (ICT), medical devices and equipment, medical tourism, halal industry, heritage and tourism, Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme and property,” he said.

Also present at the talk were former state executive councillor Datuk Dr Toh Kin Woon and ANZGAM Penang branch chairman Khoo Soo Hay.

Source: http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2010/10/20/north/7243672&sec=north