Malaysia has picked its southern state of Johor to lead the development of four new economic growth corridors in the country, local media reported Monday.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi made the announcement Sunday when arriving at the Senai International Airport on a one- day trip to this southernmost state.

The Southern Johor Economic Region (SJER) is the largest development corridor earmarked under the ninth Malaysia Plan (2006- 2010), compared to other corridors in the peninsular and the eastern states of Sabah and Sarawak, Badawi said.

"There is a lot of potential here as land is not too expensive like in other places and there is adequate workforce. Proper implementation of these projects will attract more investors and put Johor on the world map, " Badawi was quoted as saying by a local English-language newspaper, The Star.

A total investment of 15 billion ringgit (4.05 billion U.S. dollars), including foreign investment, will be pumped into the over-10,000-hectare prime land, Badawi said later at a news conference.

The corridor will stretch from the Johor Causeway to Gelang Patah and include Senai International Airport, Johor Port in Pasir Gudang and the Port of Tanjung Pelepas.

Projects to be undertaken include an education hub with state- of-the art facilities supported by brand name universities and a medical center of excellence, with top-end private hospitals and research facilities, sources told the New Straits Times (NST), a local English-language newspaper.

Tourism, already a big earner for Johor, is to get a bigger push with higher-end hotels to draw big-spending visitors, said the sources.

The parliament is expected to set up a new body to oversee those projects, which will be jointly chaired by Badawi, who is also Finance Minister, and Johor Menteri Besar (a title similar to "Chief Minister") Abdul Ghani Othman.

Malaysia has also proposed the concepts of North Corridor and Eastern Corridor in the peninsular. The former comprises Perlis, Penang and Kedah states while the latter covers Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang states.

Source: Xinhua