Malaysia eyes infrastructure projects in India
Tuesday, 13 January 2004, 20:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: Malaysia is keen to be India's partner in development and is actively seeking participation in various infrastructure projects, like road construction, says Malaysian long-time Works Minister S. Samy Vellu. "India is a country with vast opportunity and Malaysia wants to be part of its development scheme. In addition, given India's IT skill and expertise, we want to learn from it. Tourism and cultural exchange is another area we are keen to cooperate in," Samy Vellu told IANS during a visit here to attend the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas. Samy Vellu, the leader of the Malaysian Indian Congress that is a partner in the country's ruling coalition, had led one of the biggest delegations to the three-day meet of global Indians. Malaysia, with 2.3 million people of Indian origin, has one of the largest populations of Indian origin people in the world. "The event provided a lot of opportunity for us to understand about India. We brought a big contingent so that we could sit in the various committees and forums to understand the future of India and how we can participate in the development here and benefit from India's experience," said Samy Vellu, who attended the first Pravasi Divas as well. Next year the minister plans to bring an even bigger delegation than the 80-plus this year. Malaysian companies have been engaged in road projects in India like the Jaipur-Gurgaon highway, the Tada-Nellore and Nandigama-Vijayawada highways and a part of the Pune-Mumbai highway besides two highway projects in Kolkata. "India is a good paymaster and has a transparent system of tendering for projects. India is genuine in providing opportunity for work. Our working relations are very good. Except one project, we have got all the projects through competitive tenders," said Vellu. "Given our experience and proven good work, we would like to participate in a big way in India's Golden Quadrilateral (national highway project) and other highway projects."
Source: IANS
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