“Singaporeans are now travelling to Johor three times more frequently than they did three years ago, and the proportion of Singaporeans’ spending in Johor relative to their global expenditure has doubled over the same period,” says Fazal, citing a recent study conducted by SBF, the Singapore Retailers Association (SRA) and Mastercard.
The Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link and broader cross-border connectivity “are already reshaping how investors, tourists and businesses think about both cities”, adds Fazal at the groundbreaking ceremony of Phase 2 of the RM5 billion Coronation Square integrated development in Johor Bahru (JB). “These are trends that are already happening even before the RTS.”
The RTS Link, scheduled for completion in January 2027, will connect Bukit Chagar in JB to Woodlands North in Singapore. It is expected to ease traffic congestion along the Causeway.
Both countries’ customs, immigration and quarantine (CIQ) facilities will also be co-located — a unique arrangement that allows Singapore enforcement agencies to operate in Malaysia and vice versa. Malaysia and Singapore are refining the standard operating procedures for the co-located facilities at the Bukit Chagar CIQ Complex, says Malaysia’s Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail on May 8.
Johor and Singapore are entering an era of “convergence” as infrastructure improves and policy barriers are gradually removed, says fellow panellist Patrick Lim, managing director of Coronade Properties.
“The resource and consumer bases among Johorians will [grow]. For example, when Singaporeans come here, the majority [of Johorians] become richer… and as infrastructure improves, wealth, services and goods improve, [which will lead] to higher rates,” adds Lim, whose firm is spearheading the 9.6-acre Coronation Square project. “Johor Bahru, [with a strong] resource base of land, natural resources and people, will always be more cost‑competitive, while Singapore will still have an edge in many other areas.”
Future of Johor
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Johor is positioning itself as a digital and advanced manufacturing hub, says Invest Johor chief executive Natazha Harris, who leads the state’s investment promotion agency. “We have attracted 52 data centres over the last two years,” he adds, highlighting that the digital sector is one of Johor’s key growth engines.
Beyond data centres, Johor is also targeting precision engineering and semiconductor-related industries as part of the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ). “Another [area] we are pushing under the JS-SEZ is precision engineering… these are among the sectors at the top of our priority list,” says Natazha.
That said, Johor is “not competing directly with Penang” with its semiconductor push, but “focusing on a different part of the ecosystem”, he adds. “We know Singapore is also looking very seriously at the semiconductor industry globally, so we are leveraging on that strength to capture opportunities within the ecosystem.
Johor’s other focus sectors include food security, tourism and education, adds Natazha.
SRA executive director Stephen Sing says his association is working with logistics players to explore “super-sized” retail warehouses in Johor, alongside manpower and training hubs that could support Singapore retailers facing rising costs domestically. “Johor is a vast place with much land and resources, so we are looking at how we can offshore some of the more costly aspects [of businesses] to JB.”
What will the JS-SEZ look like in the next five to 10 years? Hasni Mohammad, economic and investment advisor to the State of Johor, says long-term confidence in leadership and economic direction is critical.
Hasni, who served as Johor’s Menteri Besar — or chief minister — between 2020 and 2022, describes Malaysia’s southernmost state as “consistently stable… regardless of changes at the federal level”.
“I am 67 years old now, and I have never seen Johor unstable,” he says, adding that the state’s long-term development plans extend beyond JB itself into the broader “Greater Johor Bahru” region, including areas such as Iskandar Puteri and Pasir Gudang.
