SP Setia sees up to RM400m sales from 'EcoLakes' project

PROPERTY developer SP Setia Bhd is targeting between RM300 million and RM400 million in sales of properties at its soon-to-be-launched 'EcoLakes' project in Vietnam.

Its group managing director and chief executive officer Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin said the company, which has obtained the necessary approvals to launch the project in April this year, will use the project to showcase Malaysian expertise in the property development sector in Vietnam.

The 200ha integrated development, which carries a gross development value of RM2.5 billion, is located in Ho Chi Minh City.

"We will ensure that this maiden project of ours in Vietnam carries the same high standards executed in Malaysia as we brand ourselves as one of the best developers in that country," he told reporters during a Chinese New Year gathering in Penang yesterday.

Last month, SP Setia announced that it has clinched a deal to jointly build a 32ha mixed development project in Ho Chi Minh City, which caters to expatriates and senior staff working in the Saigon High Technology Park.

Liew said SP Setia, which is expecting to record sales of RM1.8 billion for its 2008 fiscal year ending October 31, is expecting its projects in Penang to contribute RM300 million to the total.

He said the company's "SP Vista" project which will be launched in the second quarter this year, will see 225 units of three-storey homes being built plus apartments. Spread out on 8.4ha in Relau, it is set to carry a development value of RM250 million.

SP Setia's maiden foray into Penang is the Setia Pearl Island project, which features 1,200 landed homes on a 45ha site.

To be developed over the next five to six years, the project comprises three-storey terraced homes, semi-detached units and commercial lots, and is located between 4km and 5km from the proposed site of the second Penang bridge at Batu Maung, 10km from the Penang Bridge and 20km from George Town.

By New Straits Times (by Marina Emmanuel)