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Iskandar Malaysia May Strike Deal With Theme Park Operator

DUBAI, -- Iskandar Investment Malaysia Bhd (IIB) may announce a deal with at least one theme park operator within 6-12 months to run a theme park in Iskandar Malaysia."We are talking to several theme park operators, not just one," said IIB managing director Alida Ariff at a press conference here Thursday.IIB is in talks with theme park operators from the US, Europe and Australia, said Alida, who is in Dubai for the Cityscape Dubai, which started Monday and ended today.She said Iskandar Malaysia would probably have three theme parks and they would be complementing each other rather than competing."If we sign the deal within the next 12 months, we can open the park in 2012," she said.Alida said Iskandar Malaysia needs more than one theme park to ensure the length of stay of tourists would be at least two days."The Hong Kong Disneyland is an example that shows to us that you cannot just depend on a single theme park."It has to be multiple parks to ensure tourist dollars that we receive is translated into multiplying factor," she said.She pointed out that if there was only one theme park in Iskandar Malaysia, what would happen was that Singaporeans or other tourists whom come from there would spend a day in the theme park and then go back to Singapore where they would spend money for accommodation and shopping.Alida said IIB would be careful in selecting the operators and those chosen would not be offering the same kind of entertainment.She said that in most instances IIB would have the operators to own a small stake in the theme park that they operate. Over 1,200 hectares have been allocated for theme parks and supporting development.The core theme park will take up 240-320 hectares, depending on the selection of operators, while the other theme parks will be about 30 to 40 hectares each.IIB is majority-owned by Khazanah Nasional Bhd.IIB chairman Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar said Iskandar Malaysia enjoyed "good days" at Cityscape which started with the unveiling of "Medini Iskandar Malaysia" on Monday.He said Iskandar Malaysia has managed to attract 300-400 visitors daily during the first three days.At retail level, he said, developers offering their products for sale would receive over RM100 million in paid deposit.He also said the Middle East market has been targeted as one of the key market drivers to help inject interest in Iskandar Malaysia, not just in terms of funds but also expertise.Cityscape Dubai is the world's largest business-to-business international real estate event