Government agency Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA), which is responsible for education and entrepreneurship in Malaysia, hopes to attract global aerospace engineering business to the region; potentially worth US$1 trillion by 2020.
The Atkins contract is with MARA鈥檚 wholly owned strategic investment and asset-management company, which will serve as master developer for AAC.
The development will be the first project to be built in conformance with MARA鈥檚 鈥楨dubizpark鈥� concept, the goal of which is to help educational institutions become catalysts for creating targeted business opportunities. AAC will be designed as a 鈥榮mart鈥� city, with academic campuses, research and development facilities, integrated office suites, a convention centre and residential areas. It is expected to generate 10,000 engineering-related jobs.
鈥淚 am excited about this strategic project,鈥� said Atkins鈥� CEO for Asia Pacific, Chris Birdsong. 鈥淎sia Aerospace City will directly benefit the local community, and it also lines up with the country鈥檚 aggressive economic transformation programme 鈥攚hich calls for Malaysia to become a self-sufficient, industrialized nation by the year 2020.
AAC is expected to draw interest and fiscal commitments from international players in engineering and aerospace, and the aim is to transform Malaysia into the aerospace hub of Asia. 聽
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