JLand plans RM250m specialist hospital

JOHOR Land Bhd (JLand) will build a 250-bed specialist hospital within Bandar Dato Onn, Johor, that will be managed by sister company KPJ Healthcare Bhd.

To be ready in 2010, the hospital is estimated to cost RM250 million to build and equip. It is positioned to offer the latest facility and be very patient-friendly.

"The hospital will be hassle-free. It is designed that way," JLand's managing director Shafiqul Hafiz told Business Times.

It will be leased to KPJ when ready in 2010.

Shafiqul said that JLand and a yet-to-be-finalised investor will finance the project.

Together with the hospital, a nursing college called Puteri Nursing College and a retirement home will be built in the township.

Both JLand and KPJ Healthcare are majority-owned by Johor Corp. JLand, incorporated in 1972, was listed on Bursa Malaysia in 1996.

Today, JLand has some 1,215ha for development in Johor. In collaboration with Johor Corp, it has delivered over 24,000 residential and 1,300 commercial units.

JLand is also broadening its revenue base with a barter trade terminal project in Sabah.

It is buying 51 per cent of Windsor Trade Holdings Sdn Bhd (WTH), which has an 80 per cent subsidiary, Windsor Trade Sdn Bhd. Windsor Trade has been granted a 30-year concession to operate Sandakan Integrated Trade Exchange Terminal.

"The acquisition will be completed in the second quarter of 2008. It will start to contribute (to the group) in early 2011," he said.

WTH will develop an integrated barter trade terminal complete with various facilities on a 13.6ha area at Batu Sapi, Sandakan. The terminal will cater to traders from Asean countries.

The development cost of the terminal is estimated at RM315 million including land, pre-development cost, construction of infrastructure and buildings and equipment.

By New Straits Times (by Vasantha Ganesan)