Pagoh Higher Education Hub Starts Operation Next Year – Muhyiddin

The Pagoh Higher Education Hub (HPTP) is expected to start operations by 2016, a year sooner than anticipated, says Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin  who is also the minister of education was speaking with journalist right after a closed-door briefing on the Pagoh Development Plan at Kompleks Seri Pekembar in Pagoh last Wednesday.

“The first phase is 70 per cent completed. I expect the universities to start using some of the facilities next year, and not in 2017 as planned,” he said.

The progress of Bandar Baru Universiti Pagoh will incorporate infrastructure, for example, streets and roads, lodging and housing as well as public transport to bolster HPTP.

“One encouraging thing is the planned Malaysia-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) Project.

“After discussion with the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD), they agreed to align the railway to HPTP. This will provide a catalyst for the rapid growth of Bandar Baru Universiti Pagoh,” said Muhyiddin.

The Pagoh MP said endeavors to pull in top universities in the world to establish their campus in HPTP were under the pipeline.

Imperial College London (ICL), the second top university in the world, has consented to work together with Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in HPTP.

Prior in his speech, Muhyiddin said the most recent improvement of HPTP was an a catalyst for expanded activities and gave more advantages regarding human capital advancement with the making of more than 25,000 employments in Malaysia.

The first phase of HPTP includes the development of Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), UTM and Politeknik Pagoh.

At the occasion, Muhyiddin witnessed the inking of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Tunas Selatan Construction Sdn Bhd and UTM, UTHM, IIUM and Politeknik Pagoh to construct residential colleges for 7,008 students costing RM300 million.