For nearly 6 years the residents of Ledang had been waiting for a special mega development that will turn the remote palm estate into an international hub for furniture industry. Ledang, formerly known as Minor District Tangkak was officially declared the 10th district in the state in a ceremony here officiated by the Sultan of Johor Sultan Iskandar Ismail on June 9, 2008. It was the heart of Malaysia furniture industry. At least 40% of Malaysian furniture industry is located at Ledang. The furniture export value from Ledang alone made up almost 7 to 8 billions Ringgit per year. Realizing the significant of this rural district, the government had intended to develop it into an international furniture city.
In the early of 2009, Tangkak District Council President then, Asmail Abdul Kadir was reported to say that the council had approved the layout plans, adding the multi-million projects under the Ninth Malaysia Plan were expected to complete in five years (Johor Buzz, New Straits Times, February 6, 2009). During the 2010 Kembara Mahkota Johor, Sultan of Johor was told by the then Tangkak district officer, Amran Abdul Rahman that a new RM200mil road connecting Tangkak and Segamat is being built to cut travelling time between the two towns by half and the Ledang district would have a new administrative centre as well as furniture city to speed up its economic growth (The Star, August 9, 2010). Many years has gone since then and the Eleventh Malaysia Plan had been announce but for some reasons, the megaproject is yet to surface and despite located exactly on the North South highwat and between the rapidly developing state of Malacca and the district of Muar, Ledang remains as one of the many ghost town in Johor.
However in the middle of this year, the Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Mohamed Khaled Nordin had announce the lastest transformation plan for district Ledang in order to narrow the economic growth gap between Ledang and other northern region with the wealthy Iskandar region at the south. The optimistic and visionary Menteri Besar said that among the main plans for the transformation include the construction of an administrative centre for Ledang, development of an International furniture exhibition centre and boosting its tourism and agricultural sectors. This is followed with the recent announcement from the Johor State Exco Tee Siew Kiong that might at last put an end to the half decade wait.
JOHOR BARU: The state government hopes to set up a one-stop furniture exhibition centre in Ledang to tap the lucrative furniture market. State Tourism, Trade and Consumer Affairs Committee chairman Datuk Tee Siew Kiong said that the centre would be in north Johor as areas such as Batu Pahat, Ledang and Muar were active with furniture production.
“In fact almost 50% of the country’s furniture production is from Johor,” he told StarMetro.
He added that furniture exports totalled RM7.34bil last year and was expected to increase by 10% this year. He added that most of the furniture are exported to the United States, Japan, Singapore, United Kingdom and Australia. Tee added that besides showcasing their products, these centre could also play a part to hook businesses among local players with other local and foreign players. He added that the state government was also interested in getting local players to be innovative and creative with their products and designs.
“We want our producers to adapt to the changing times and keep their products modern so that it will continue to be accepted worldwide,” he adding that people would always be looking forward for new patterns and designs.
Tee added that they were also working with the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA) to offer incentives for those involved in the “design and development” of their products. He added that the furniture industry was important to the state and more effort would be put in to promote the sector. Tee likened North Johor to a furniture hub as it was near the highway with easy access to ports in Selangor and Johor.
I really hope this time, this project will be a success.
