Report: Malaysia weighs new Disney park
Malaysia is in talks to bring the Disney theme park to a new township in the Southeast Asian country, a business weekly reported Sunday.
Government officials have made an attractive offer to Oriental Land Co., the Japanese company that operates Tokyo Disneyland, to run a similar park in Malaysia, The Edge quoted unidentified sources as saying.
The report didn't elaborate on the offer, saying only that talks are ongoing.
"The discussions are progressing well," one source was cited as saying. "The Disney theme park may occupy about 2,000 acres (800 hectares) of Nusajaya."
Nusajaya is a 9,200-hectare (23,000-acre) township developed by UEM World Bhd., a government-linked company, in the southwestern tip of peninsular Malaysia, near Singapore.
UEM World officials could not be reached for comment Sunday.
The Edge said that Walt Disney Co. is interested in the proposed Malaysian park as it will not compete with the other Asian Disney parks in Hong Kong and Tokyo, as well as the one planned in Shanghai, due to geographical distance.
A Disney park in Nusajaya could, however, pose stiff competition to two casino-cum-resorts to be set up soon in Singapore.