'Selangor needs more skilled workers to woo investments'

SELANGOR must produce more skilled workers to win more high-technology investments, said Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.

"Our strategy going forward is to have value-added and high technology in our manufacturing sector and we are already undergoing changes such as nanotechnology," he said in winding up a two-day state budget dialogue session in Shah Alam yesterday.

According to him there are more than 20,000 vacancies to be filled in Selangor.

Selangor ranks among the leading states in investments in manufacturing, housing some of the biggest names from Japan, Singapore and Taiwan, apart from Penang and recently, Sarawak.

For the first six months of the year, Selangor attracted RM2.18 billion in investments, of which RM1.11 billion are foreign.

The state is aggressively wooing investors in biotechnology, aviation and green industries like solar power.

It has also identified new growth areas. For example, Serendah, Hulu Selangor has been targetted as the automotive hub of Selangor and Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang for the aerospace industry.

Under the Klang Valley 2 area which involved the Kuala Langat and Sepang districts, the state government has identified mega projects in Cyberjaya, Sepang Gold Coast, Selangor Science Park II and KLIA Aeropolis.

Meanwhile the SSIC, the state's investment arm, identified regional competition, security issues, rising production costs, gas supply and manpower as the main challenges in developing the manufacturing sector.

The Selangor 2010 Budget will be tabled by Khalid at the state legislative assembly sitting in November.

Selangor, which draws 75 per cent of its revenue from land premiums, faces limitation in spending from the RM1.4 billion budget for its five million population.