Press Announcement on ‘GBS by the Sea’
Speech by Chief Minister of Penang
Press Announcement on ‘GBS by the Sea’
16 May 2017
Ladies And Gentlemen
Good morning. I am pleased to announce the State’s latest development of ‘GBS by the Sea’, a visionary initiative by the State Government to develop the infrastructure for the growing Global Business Services (GBS) needs in Penang.
‘GBS by the Sea’ is our next key project in our master plan, following my launch 3 weeks ago at the ‘GBS@Mayang’, which is the rejuvenation of Mayang Mall, and includes refurbishment works, a sparkling new building facade shared facilities and most importantly, infrastructure upgrades in line with MSC Malaysia Cybercentre standards.
Accelerating Penang’s Growth – GBS as Catalyst towards a Knowledge-based Economy
Outsourcing Malaysia (OM) projected that Malaysia’s GBS Sector will see a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10%-15% for the next three years. According to MDeC, in 2016, GBS companies with MSC status in Malaysia recorded a total revenue of RM18.4 billion. Penang, with its availability of talent, has and will continue to attract more investments in this sector. Penang is also proud that Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), in their Malaysia Investment Performance 2016 listed Penang with the second largest investments for Global Establishments for Services or ‘Principal Hub’ with an investment value of RM4.1 billion, after Kuala Lumpur.
The Penang State Government is committed to continually develop infrastructure that will enhance the 3rd wave of development of the services sector, encompassing GBS/SSO, BPO, Research & Development (R&D), Design & Development (D&D), and advanced manufacturing. The Penang Cyber City area encompasses the Bayan Baru Improvement District especially the GBS @ Mayang that was launched earlier. And now we have GBS by the Sea in Bayan Lepas Technoplex but differentiated by its location in a vibrant technology business park.
‘GBS by the Sea’ – An Oasis for the Global Business Services at Convenience of Sungai Tiram and Penang Channel
The GBS by the Sea is envisioned as an integrated centre for Global Business Services (GBS) and IT & R&D activities. The ‘GBS by the Sea’ located at Bayan Lepas will feature a landmark 9-storey building seafront building with an excellent view of the sea of the Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Bridge.
This project is clearly a testament of the State’s long term vision to further synergize all stakeholders’ in GBS sector and to attract more GBS investments.
An approximate total of 411,000 square feet of MSC Malaysia Cybercentre office space, in two adjoining 8- and 9-storey buildings will be available once the building is completed in the year 2020. The campus will also feature MSC Cybercentre office space, multilevel 2,500 bays car parks, retails and F&B outlets. This development is expected to host 3,000 jobs.
Development and Growth for the Future Generation – GBS@Penang>
The State’s concerted effort to enhance GBS infrastructure such as the development of GBS@Mayang and GBS by the Sea is also to provide higher value jobs in the manufacturing industry through expansion and diversification to GBS and high value services such as R&D and D&D.
Penang must partake in the Industry 4.0 transformation which revolves around Big Data Analytics (BDA), e-commerce, crowdsourcing, Cloud Computing and Internet of Things (IoT). These will provide higher value jobs for the talents in Penang, and all our concerted effort towards this is to ensure talents in Penang will move towards high value jobs – and further attract and retain more talent into Penang.
With over 40 years’ of industrial experience, we have already developed Penang’s own trademark of ‘Powered in Penang’. Now, is the time for Penang to build and develop our brand of GBS@Penang for our services industry.
Thank you.