Govt bans interstate travel to and from Sabah beginning Oct 12 for two weeks
The government has banned interstate travel to and from Sabah beginning October 12 until October 25, Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said. Ismail Sabri, who is also defence minister, said that special exemptions will be given for select cases, involving emergencies, deaths, needful services, and others, for which clearance must first be obtained from the Ministry of Health (MOH). “Those who have obtained permission must also undergo the Covid-19 screening by MOH, upon landing at their destined entry points,” he added. Malaysia recorded an exponential surge of Covid-19 cases nationwide over the past few days, with the country recording a new record-high of 691 cases yesterday. (Malay Mail)
MR DIY opens books for Malaysia’s largest IPO in three years
Malaysian home improvement retailer MR DIY Group opened the books for its RM1.5 billion initial public offering (IPO) on Tuesday, the country’s largest listing in three years. The company fixed the offer price at RM1.60 per share, giving it an estimated market capitalisation of RM10 billion. The bookbuild period will last seven working days, before pricing on Oct. 14 and listing on Oct. 26. MR DIY joins a number of other Southeast Asian companies planning IPOs this year, including Thailand’s Siam Cement Group Packaging and Philippines’ Converge ICT Solutions Inc, a trend that signals an uptick in fundraising activity in underperforming markets. The MR DIY listing is on track to be the largest in Malaysia since Lotte Chemical Titan raised RM3.77 billion in July 2017. MR DIY, which has around 29% market share in Malaysia and 674 stores in its home market and Brunei, had originally planned to list in the second quarter of the year but delayed amid concerns about rising coronavirus case numbers. (The Star Online)
Penang’s pilot urban regeneration project on hold due to Covid-19
Penang’s pilot urban regeneration project to tear down 50-year-old low-cost housing units and replace them with new low medium cost (LMC) units has been put on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the change in federal government early this year, said state exco Jagdeep Singh Deo. The Local Government, Housing and Town and Country Planning Committee chairman said the pilot project, involving 300 units on Jalan Mahsuri in Bayan Baru, was supposed to start at the end of this year. “Penang was supposed to take the lead to start this scheme. It was decided last year for Penang to start as there were no laws for such schemes and the strata title act does not have provisions for such redevelopments,” he said. “For now, we can only look at rectifying structural issues of aged housing schemes on an ad hoc basis since we can’t start the urban regeneration project yet,” he added. The owners of the existing units would have been compensated with one LMC unit each. (Malay Mail)
MCMC suggests state govts count internet access as basic utility in residential areas
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has proposed for the state governments to introduce a policy that includes internet access as among requirements for basic utilities in residential areas. Its chairman, Dr Fadhlullah Suhaimi Abdul Malek said the facility was necessary to speed up the process of transition to 5G technology and address issues on building of telecommunication towers. He said among the challenges facing the telecommunication industry is getting permission to build telecommunication towers on private land. On Aug 29 this year, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced that the government is developing a digital infrastructure plan known as the National Digital Network (Jendela) in an effort to improve the country’s digital communications under the 12th Malaysia Plan (2021–2025). (Malay Mail)
PM: Malaysia more prepared than before to handle, curb COVID-19
Malaysia’s healthcare system, facilities and preparedness will enable the country to handle the current situation of COVID-19 without having to close its economic sectors again, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said. “We are now better prepared than before in terms of experience and manpower. We know the behaviour of the virus better and we have enough facilities and equipment,” he said in a special address to the nation yesterday. The Prime Minister also called on the people who have yet to download and register the MySejahtera mobile app to quickly do so to ease the detection process of those who may have been in close contact with COVID-19 patients. Muhyiddin also expressed confidence that the curve of daily cases of COVID-19 infection, which is quite worrying at the moment, could be flattened again with the cooperation from all quarters. (Bernama)
