Selangor has recorded the the highest amount of industrial investments between January and October based on the approval for RM5.67 billion worth of manufacturing projects.

State exco in charge of investment, industry and commerce Teresa Kok said that Selangor's pole position was confirmed by the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (Mida).

The amount encompass 222 projects which forms 36 percent of the total projects in the country.

"Selangor is followed by Johor, at second place, with 120 projects and Penang, third place, with 87 projects.

"Of the 222 industrial projects approved by Selangor, 139 are new projects while the 83 others are projects that have been expanded," said Kok, adding that this has created 14,953 job opportunities.

She notes that such investments were "balanced", as local and foreign funding were almost equal. Foreign funding amounts to RM3.17 billion or 56 percent.

MB: We're on target

Among foreign investors, Japan is the largest with investments totaling at RM1.88 billion, followed by Singapore and Thailand.

"The high number of industrial projects in Selangor shows that the state economy is strong and remains a prime destination for foreign and local investors," she said.

In a related development, Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim said that the state was confident of reaching its RM10 billion target by year end.

"Some of our investments in future will be on human resource and technology development," he said, according to Bernama , after officiating a seminar on green technology in Shah Alam today.

Abdul Khalid said the investment in Selangor has to be promoted vigorously to support the country's economy.

"We also expect the domestic investment to grow which will give us a good base in the next three years," he said.