KL speeds up high-tech plans

KL speeds up high-tech plans

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.