KL speeds up high-tech plans

Fri, 24 Oct 1997 | Source: REUTERS

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): Malaysia is speeding up development of its proposed high-technology Multimedia Super Corridor zone despite the crisis in its currency that has delayed other big projects, an MSC official said yesterday.

Othman Yeop Abdullah, executive chairman of the Multimedia Development Corp which is overseeing the MSC, said the ringgit's gyrations had raised questions about whether work on the MSC would be slowed.

"The answer is no," Othman told a telecommunications conference in the capital. "In fact, the prime minister has strongly directed me to accelerate the development of the MSC ... Previously it was scheduled (at) two years, ... now to one year."

A brainchild of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, the MSC is a 15 kilometer by 50 km zone stretching south from Kuala Lumpur to where a new federal capital and an international airport are under construction.

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