KULAI: Seventy per cent of the property development in Forest City, Iskandar Puteri, has been sold within the past two years and is set to continue to increase over the next three or four years.

State Housing and Local Government Committee chairman Datuk Mohd Jafni Md Shukor said the impact of property sales would further boost the economic sector in the area.

"Many unsold properties over the past four years have been sold within two years.

"For example, in Forest City, which people call a 'ghost town,' many people do not know that 70 per cent of the real estate development there has been sold, as well as in Country Garden and the surrounding areas of Johor Bahru," he told reporters after the Hari Raya Aidilfitri Open House in Hutan Bandar Kulai here today.

He said this when asked to comment on the number of properties sold in Forest City so far.

He said that it is among the positive impacts of the continuous efforts of the state government, which is always committed to addressing the issue of unsold properties.

Meanwhile, Mohd Jafni said the state government's initiative to enhance the efficiency of work processes and governance to reduce red tape or bureaucracy in the government delivery system could be a catalyst for progress in the state.

He said this could be seen through a recent statement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who anticipated Johor to become the most developed state in Malaysia following the implementation of several high-impact projects.

"I fully agree with the Prime Minister's statement because Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi has engaged with investors from Singapore and China. All of this is happening," he said.

Last Thursday, Anwar was reported to have said that high-impact projects such as the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ) and the Special Financial Zone (SFZ) could drive Johor's economy to surpass other states within the next one to two years.