JOHOR BARU, MALAYSIA: Iskandar Malaysia is still maintaining its investment momentum despite the slowing global economic climate, raking in RM40.25bil(S$17 bil) in investments since its inception two years ago.

Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman said this represented 85.6% of total investments targeted to flow into the corridor by 2010.

He gave his assurance that the slowdown will not hurt investments already made in Iskandar Malaysia because the foreign partners they were working with were strong.

Even the government had been awarding projects over the past six months to develop infrastructure-related projects totalling RM452mil, Abdul Ghani said.

The Federal Government has allocated RM6.83bil for Iskandar Malaysia under the Ninth Malaysia Plan.

There has been tremendous momentum in the past two years and despite the slowing economic environment, Iskandar was still moving forward on schedule, he said.

Abdul Ghani said Iskandar received RM14.45bil this year alone compared with RM11.3bil in 2006.

On Singapore's position in Iskandar, he said they were the third-largest investor after Japan and Spain to invest in the manufacturing sector, which represented 50% of the investment secured so far.

Khazanah Nasional managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar said that while the Government would have to slow down on mega projects, Iskandar Malaysia would be unaffected as it has been allocated a significant amount for development.

"Our partners such as Millennium Development International Company, Kuwait Finance House and Mudabala Development Company are strong partners and our mega projects are moving," he said.