- USD 8.43 billion committed investments in data centres
- Expected GDV of USD 6.6 billion over a 20-year horizon
JLand Group (JLG), the real estate and infrastructure arm of Johor Corporation (JCorp) unveiled Ibrahim Technopolis (IBTEC) – a 7,290-acre integrated development township in Sedenak that is envisioned to become Asia’s sandbox for innovation – a live environment where industry, government and innovators can, over time, pilot new solutions in real operating conditions, then refine and scale them across the region.
It is slated to be a key driver in the Johor–Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ) with the aim for township maturity by 2047.
The key building blocks being put in place include:
- Advanced manufacturing and logistics precincts integrated into regional and global supply chains;
- R&D and innovation clusters connected to universities, technical institutions and corporate research centres;
- A digital connectivity spine with data-ready infrastructure, smart utilities and systems designed to support AI, IoT and autonomous solutions; and
- An enabling policy environment that can accommodate future sandbox-oriented approaches as regulations evolve.
Neither a pure property project nor industrial park
“The idea of IBTEC started out as a question: How can Johor turn its industrial strength into a platform for the next wave of growth? We saw the world shifting toward cleaner growth, smarter systems and opportunities that reach more people, and Johor is uniquely placed next to Singapore with the land and talent to support that.”
“IBTEC is our answer – a living, evolving district where new ideas in data, logistics and advanced industries can be tested and scaled, a real-world innovation sandbox and next-generation economic engine for Johor and the region,” he added.
According to Akmal, IBTEC is meant to incorporate digital and advanced industries within a sustainable smart-city framework, integrating industrial and logistics, R&D facilities, commercial centres and lifestyle neighbourhoods under a single, coordinated blueprint, from land use and infrastructure to digital systems and long-term district stewardship.
During the masterplanning of what and how IBTEC was going to be, JLG drew insights from innovation hubs in Singapore, Barcelona, Shenzhen, Silicon Valley, and Knowledge Quarter London.
“When we designed this, we identified who are our potential stakeholders from the businesses, industries, and residents,” Akmal said. “ We also identified what is critical to them and what are their wants.”
Creating economic components first before the actual build
JLG followed lessons learned from Iskandar Malaysia in envisioning IBTEC.
“It started with a property play, but if you look at the equation what was missing, what was missing actually is the economic component, the businesses were not there to drive the area’s growth,” Akmal said.
“Therefore, by replicating the seed model, our focus was to look at engaging with investors first by trying to bring in the business, starting with data center players,” Akmal said. “We are creating the economic components first before we start to build,.” he added.
“We were successful in the first phase, now we are moving on to the second phase, and it’s built on demand, it’s not speculation,” he added. “We are focusing on the industries first because we take cognizance that we have to pull the industries first, create the economic value first then everything will fall in place,”
There was an inquiry about the competitive landscape in Johor, specifically how new developments like the Ibrahim Financial District, Medini Iskandar, and IBTEC differentiate themselves to attract investors.
The concern was whether these cities with potentially overlapping industries under the JSSEZ are competing for attention, and what strategies are in place to ensure each achieves its unique industrial objectives.
While Akmal embraces the thought of competition, he added that there are five areas that JLG is focusing on and is reaching out to investors of sectors like Advanced E&E, Life sciences, Medtech, data centers, and logistics.
STeP East and West
One of the key highlights of the presentation was the Sedenak Tech Park (STeP), a 1,376-acre data center hub, which is split into two areas: STeP East and STeP West. STeP East began development in 2014 and was completed last year.
“We have currently developed STeP East which is about 700 acres, this means that we have developed about 10% of 7,290 acres of the Ibrahim Technopolis,” said Faizal Hussin, Director of Ibrahim Technopolis. There would be an immediate future expansion into the West, which consists of 1,083 acres.
However, only 367 acres are reserved net saleable areas for data centers in both parks.
This is interesting to note because in the US, local communities are pushing back against the increasing number of data centers built as this could increase the price of electricity.
When asked whether Johoreans may feel the same way, and how it would be addressed, JLG clarified that IBTEC is not a data-centre project, it is a socio-economic growth centre designed as an innovation testbed.
“Its energy needs are being managed through planned, dedicated infrastructure upgrades and close coordination with the State, Federal agencies and Tenaga Nasional Berhad, so that industrial demand is matched with new capacity and more renewable sources, not drawn away from Johor households.”
Currently, STeP East is said to be fully occupied by 12 data center investors from China (6), Singapore (4), UK (1) , and Malaysia (1), with a planned load of 1770 megawatts along with a total investment worth of RM34.46 Billion
Furthermore, the current existing Infrastructure in the area consists of:
- Electricity: 275kV Main Intake Substation (PMU) providing up to 800 megawatts.
- Water Supply: 10 Million Liters Per Day (MLD) existing capacity, with a planned total capacity of 56.4 MLD by 2028 (15.2 MLD (2027), 21.2 MLD (2028)).
- Connectivity: Besides having multiple telco providers, dark fiber connections; unused fiber optic cables that organizations can lease or purchase to create their own private, high-speed networks, providing complete control over bandwidth and security.
- Wastewater: Sewerage Treatment Plant (STP) with a design capacity of 20,000 population equivalent (PE).
Meanwhile, infrastructure and utility construction has commenced for STeP West.
Planned Infrastructure for STeP West:
- Power: New 500kV PMU expected to energize by end of 2026 (staged power
- Water: New water tanks providing 31.5 MLD, expected completion by 2027 to accommodate incoming investors by 2028.
Future infrastructure plans
Faizal hopes that the IBTEC Urban Design Guidelines could be adopted by next year. “We also plan to activate our park management for STeP East.”
While responsibilities like safety, security, roads, drainage, maintenance of common facilities, and community engagement are typically handled by the local authority, IBTEC has formed a special collaboration with Majlis Perbandaran Kulai (MPKu) to jointly deliver these services.
“We have a very close collaboration with PLANMalaysia (formally known as the Jabatan Perancangan Bandar dan Desa, a federal agency responsible for urban, regional, and rural planning), as well as MPKU, especially in park management for STeP East,” he said.
Furthermore, there are two major infrastructure works that will be in the works for the next five years, such as the completion of the RM400-million new bypass road by 2028, which is an improvement to the current existing road that connects Sedenak Road to IBTEC south.
Within the same year, there would be another major road infrastructure development, the Sedenak Utara Interchange, a RM200 million investment connecting the PLUS Highway (from KL) directly to the northern part of IBTEC.
Idea of a better township
JLG highlighted that Johor is one of Malaysia’s most urbanised states, and like many growing cities, it faces pressures such as rising living costs, ageing facilities, wellness challenges and environmental strain.
“IBTEC gives the opportunity to build a future-ready township from a clean slate — a place designed to solve these challenges from the start,” the group said.
“Our ambition is to create a district that lifts human experience by bringing together high-quality jobs, sustainable mobility, green and open spaces, and neighbourhoods that support wellness and opportunity. IBTEC is a purpose-built platform where liveability, innovation and sustainability are integrated from day one.”
Akmal said, “On a single, unified canvas, IBTEC allows us to do what a typical developer cannot – design industrial, urban and digital infrastructure as one system, and stay with it over the long term. That is JLG’s differentiator, and IBTEC is our flagship proof.”
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Henry Chang Jie Shen
Dieser Artikel ist neu veröffentlicht von / This article is republished from: Our Sustainability Matters, 17.12.2025
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