Johor woos Tokyo Disney operator for theme park

Johor woos Tokyo Disney operator for theme park

Khazanah said to be pushing for 800-ha development

By PAULINE NG

MALAYSIA hopes to rope in the operator of Japan's Tokyo Disney Resort to help build an international theme park in the Iskandar Development Region (IDR) of South Johor.

According to sources, Malaysian officials and businessmen plan to sign a memorandum of understanding with Oriental Land Company for a feasibility study and design work on a park.

A Malaysian delegation of 15, including Johor Chief Minister Ghani Othman, was scheduled to leave for Japan last week to sign the MOU, but the trip was postponed at the last moment for reasons that are not clear.

Malaysia's state investment agency Khazanah Nasional is said to be spearheading the push for a theme park on 800 hectares near the township of Nusajaya. The cost is estimated at US$4 billion.

Although Oriental Land owns and operates Tokyo Disney Resort as a licensee of Walt Disney Co, Malaysia's park is unlikely to be Disney-branded.

On the contrary, Malaysian officials have stressed that the site - next to the Ramsar wetlands, which are rich in mangroves and inter-tidal mud-lands - makes it ideal as an eco-based park that would complement the Universal theme park to be built in Singapore.



Mr Ghani has previously said Johor will get a theme park, 'branded or otherwise'. He says Dubai has a very successful unbranded park where water is the underlying theme.

Oriental Land has previously said it has studied 'a possible leisure business' in Johor, not related to Disney.

Besides an MOU for a theme park, sources say Oriental intends to sign a separate MOU for a standalone six-star hotel on the Danga Bay waterfront. Getting to the theme park site from the hotel site would be easy, taking less than 30 minutes by boat.

Oriental Land would operate the hotel. In Japan it owns several hotels including Disney Ambassador Hotel, Tokyo DisneySea Hotel MiraCosta and Tokyo Disneyland Hotel.

When any MOUs with Malaysia could be signed is unclear, but sources say they are still on.

'It will take Oriental Land about six months to do the study and if all goes well the parties can proceed with the concession agreement,' a businessman said.

Numerous parties would be involved in the delegation to Tokyo. Besides state officials and Khazanah, UEM group is a player because it owns most of the land at Nusajaya and is undertaking a number of catalyst development projects there. Privately-held Danga Bay Sdn Bhd's involvement would be the Danga Bay waterfront development.

The proposed theme park and integrated waterfront development is part of Malaysia's massive US$105 billion plan to transform the IDR into a regional metropolis over the next 20 years.