BANDAR Penawar in South Eastern Johor is a world away from Kuala Lumpur’s golden triangle, but rental for a single storey terrace house in this town can fetch up to RM5,000 per month.

And yet that has become the normal asking price for homes around Pengerang in the past two years due to the massive petrochemical complex sprouting up in the once-sleepy district.

The Pengerang Integrated Petroleum Complex or RAPID has been a windfall for residents in Pengerang and nearby Kota Tinggi, who are cashing in by providing accommodation, food and even trademark clothing for its workers.

The spillover business that RAPID has generated has put extra money in the pockets of rural residents and feel-good vibes towards the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) government.

Such goodwill is necessary for the BN as they face a vigorous campaign by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition to unseat them from the Johor government, which is a one-time Umno bastion.

A recent survey by the Merdeka Center revealed that 51% of Johoreans are open to the idea of letting another party govern the state.

The parliamentary seats of Pengerang and Kota Tinggi have four state assembly seats whose residents have gotten the most from RAPID, a US$27 million (RM106 million) oil and gas processing terminal that started construction in 2014.

In the 13th general election, Pengerang had 37,999 voters, of which 87% were Malays, followed by Chinese (10%), others (2%) and Indians (1%). BN’s Azalina Othman Said retained the seat with a 22,508-vote majority.

Kota Tinggi, a district between Pengerang and state capital Johor Baru, had 41,894 voters in GE13. Of that total, 86% were Malays, followed by Chinese (11%), Indians (2%) and others (1%).

Noor Ehsanuddin Mohd Harun Narrashid kept it in BN’s hands by polling 24,574-more votes than PAS candidate Onn Jaafar.        

Azalina said the business boom in Pengerang will help her during the upcoming polls which are speculated to be around late April to early May.

“Pengerang has two big projects. RAPID and the (new) Desaru Waterpark. Desaru residents will benefit from these two projects,” said Azalina, a cabinet minister in charge of parliamentary affairs.

“There will be an advantage (for me) as an MP,” she told The Malaysian Insight.

Business saviour

R. Ramalingam Pillai is one of the hundreds in the area whose business was saved by RAPID.

“In 2009, I could only rent out 25% of my rooms,” said the managing director of the 1,350-room Lotus Group Desaru Hotel and Resort.

“Now, everyday my occupancy rate is 90%,” he said. Almost all of his customers are professionals and skilled workers in RAPID.  

“If not for RAPID, our business would have died,” said the 55-year old who took over the resort in 2009.

Besides providing rooms, the resort also supplies food to RAPID workers.

The strip of beach along Desaru is also seeing a construction boom. Locals said that about five five-star hotels are coming up in the area, including one owned by national sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd.

The two lane Johor Baru-Desaru road has been widened to four lanes, thus cutting travel time from 1 hour 45 minutes to 40 minutes.

Abdullah Mohammad of Kg Sg Rengit is one of the thousands of village folk who have gotten extra income from the high demand for accomodation.

The 60-year-old bus driver now makes an extra RM800 a month for renting out a room to RAPID workers.

“That’s the average price now. Villagers are really feeding off the gravy train. In the past we complained about how they took our land and we thought the compensation was unfair.

“But now we are just going with the flow,” he said adding that his family was one of those who were compensated when their land in Kg Sg Kapal was taken over for RAPID.

Cost of development

The project has also changed Kota Tinggi and Pengerang, a hilly district known for its oil palm plantations.

Two lane roads have been widened to four lanes and lorries and buses ferrying foreigners ply the roads from Bandar Penawar to RAPID every day.

“I hear that even Felda settlers in Pengerang are making money renting out homestays to workers.”

Mohamad Noor Ezriq Tee, 28, a technician in RAPID, estimated that unskilled foreign workers made about RM3,000 a month in one of the many facilities in RAPID.

Skilled locals like him can take home between RM5,000 and RM6,000 a month.

Some of his friends who had houses in the area found that it would be more profitable to rent their properties out and live elsewhere.

“There was a cleaner at my office who rented out her house in Bandar Penawar for RM4,000 a month to a company involved with RAPID. She moved to a smaller room and paid RM800 in rent. So each month she makes a RM3,200 profit from her house.”

In Kg Sg Rengit, enterprising villagers turned steel shipping containers into hostels, said Ezri.

“Each container was divided into two rooms using plywood and each room could fit four tenants. There would be three bathrooms outside and each morning we had to line up to use them.”

But not everyone is happy. Even as RAPID increased business, the higher demand drove up costs for food and household items.

“That is the cost of development. But retirees like me who are too old to work don’t see the benefits of RAPID,” said 61-year-old Bachok Mante.

“The young people can go and work in RAPID. But half of the locals are upset that it has driven up the cost of goods,” said the Kg Sg Rengit resident.

“But what to do? Come the election, we will still vote for ‘dacing’ (BN).” – March 24, 2018.