Malaysia’s Multimedia Super Corridor exceeds targets

Vandana Gombar in New Delhi

The ongoing global recession has not dampened the response to Malaysia’s ambitious Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project, which has crossed some important milestones ahead of time.

“We already have 615 MSC status companies against a target of 500 by the end of 2003. Inspite of the downturn, 200 companies have become part of the corridor this year,” Multimedia Development Corporation’s (MDC) senior vice-president, Dato V Danabalan, said.

Investment commitment by these companies is close to $ 7 billion over the next five years. By end 2002, MDC is expecting 750 companies to be part of the MSC.

About 3 per cent of MSC companies are Indian and include the likes of HCL Infosystems and NIIT. The number of Indian companies may see a sharp increase as IT companies set up operations in the Asia-Pacific region, Mr Danabalan said.

The 15 by 50 kilometre MSC corridor seeks to house companies active in the multimedia space. The technological infrastructure provided includes 2.5 gigabits digital optic fibre network which is scaleable to 10 gigabits. MSC companies enjoy tax holidays, freedom to employ unlimited number of local and foreign knowledge workers and to tap capital globally.

“The aim is to attract leading companies of the world to locate their multimedia industries in the country, undertake research, develop new products and technologies and export from this base,” Mr Danabalan said.

MDC hopes to make the MSC a hub for new age activities like biotechnology and animation. “Indian companies’ participation in MSC can be much higher than it is, especially after the thrust on biotech and animation,” he said.