LANGKAWI: Menteri Besar Kedah Incorporated (MBI Kedah), the investment arm of the Kedah state government, has signed seven memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with four companies to further develop the aerospace industry in the state.
The MoUs cover the establishment of the Northern Aeropolis and Aerospace Hub as well as the final assembly facility for the Avic Harbin Y12 aircraft and a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) centre for the Avic Harbin AC312E helicopter.
Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir (pic) said the project would put Kedah on the global map in the aviation industry and turn the state into a research and development centre for aviation through the establishment of the hub.
“Besides building Kedah as an aviation hub in the northern region, Kedah also will become a gateway for Malaysia and Asean in the eight vertices of the new space economy,” he said at the signing ceremony here yesterday.
He said the project would also involve knowledge transfer to the country’s tertiary educational institutions and provide new skills and knowledge for local youths.
Spanning three zones across the state, the hub is an integrated project with a comprehensive, structured, green technology, self-sustainable and globally-connected aviation city with the aim of capturing the niche and fast booming Asia Pacific aerospace economy.
The new space economy refers to a global sector of new aerospace companies and ventures working independently of governments and traditional major contractors to develop faster, better and cheaper access to space and space flight technologies. – Bernama
