What’s a Northern Metropolis-like project doing in Malaysia? Lessons for Hong Kong?

Deep in the southern border zone of Johor, Malaysia, separated from Singapore by a narrow strait, a steady flow of commuters moves seamlessly between the two sovereign neighbours.Beyond the immediate checkpoints, a short 30-minute train ride connects visitors to regional hubs such as Kulai, where a vastly different dynamic comes into view – one defined by the rapid expansion of digital infrastructure.Inside YTL’s sprawling Green Data Centre Park, massive operational blocks stand beside numerous others under construction. The park supplies high-performance computing power and Artificial Intelligence (AI) chips to global technology giants, sitting squarely within the Johor-Singapore-special-economic-zone" class="entity-link entity-topic" data-entity-id="158034" data-entity-type="topic">Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ), a landmark 350,000-hectare (865,000-acre) project officially established in January 2025.Covering an area more than four times the size of Singapore, the JS-SEZ aims to generate 260 billion Malaysian ringgit (US$63.9 billion) for Johor’s regional economy by 2030 and create more than 20,000 high-skilled jobs, anchored by the coming 4km Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link designed to slash travel times and cement cross-strait integration.For Malaysia, the early trajectory of Hong Kong and Shenzhen remains the foundational blueprint.Lee Ting Han, Johor’s state executive councillor for investment and trade, told the South China Morning Post that despite distinct political frameworks, the wealth gap between Singapore and Johor mirrored the historic economic disparity between Hong Kong and Shenzhen.“Similarly, it is pretty much like the early days of Hong Kong and Shenzhen, where the economic disparity between the two regions was so wide … what we are trying to do now is see whether there’s a way for us from a business standpoint to make it more integrated from trade relationships to investment culture,” Lee said.