RM2bil projects to be launched

Penang to see new development year-round


An artist’s impression of the IJM’s Light Point project along the Jelutong Expressway.

KUALA LUMPUR-BASED developers will execute projects with an estimated gross sales value of RM2bil on Penang island this year despite a challenging economic climate and price the new products competitively.

IJM Land Bhd, for example, is launching projects with estimated gross sales value (GSV) of RM350mil in the second and third quarter of 2009.

These are high-end sea-fronting projects comprising the RM200mil Light Linear, RM102mil Light Point, and the RM48mil Lots 28 located near the Jelutong Expressway.

The Light Linear consists of two 17-storey block of 328 condominiums on a 7.6 acre land, while the Light Point is a 28-storey block of 88 condominiums on a 2.8 acre site, and Lots 28 comprises 28 units of two and three-storey commercial and shop offices on a 2.6 acre site.

Pricing new property launches competitively does not mean lowering the selling price.

IJM Land Bhd managing director Datuk Soam Heng Choon says the group’s new properties would be priced competitively to reflect current construction cost, which in reality was still above the pre-July 2008 level.

“In reality, prices of construction materials are still high, with the exception of steel bars.

“To reduce the price further means to go for lower specification and finishes. “However, the flexible loan packages and other incentives thrown in by the developer will make the properties more affordable,” he says.

Soam adds that the group recently launched the RM174mil Summer Place condominium project, located at the Jelutong Expressway.

“About 40% of the 531 condominiums in Summer Place was taken up on the first two days of the recent soft launch,” he says.

C P Group is implementing its RM300mil BayVillas water project at the end of 2009 for its RM2bil Queensbay project in Bayan Lepas.

Its executive chairman Datuk Tan Chew Piau says the BayVillas comprises 76 waterfront bungalows, waterfront gardens, and garden villas, equipped with built-up areas ranging between 3,100 sq ft and 10,000 sq ft.

The entire project is guarded and has private swimming pool facilities and smart home features.

Tan says the group’s 335-room, Eastin Hotel located in Queensbay, will come on by the end of 2009.

“This will be the second hotel operating under the Eastin brand name,” he says.

Tan adds that the group is holding back the commercial project, BayCapital office suites, scheduled for launching in mid-2008, after the country succumbed to the global economic recession.

To date, CP Group has generated about RM600mil from the sales of its properties in Queensbay.

The largest project to take off the island this year comes from Mah Sing Group Bhd, which expects to launch its RM1.35bil Southbay Penang by mid-2009.

Group managing director and chief executive Datuk Seri Leong Hoy Kum says that the launch of the project would coincide with the completion of Southbay Penang’s showhouses.

Leong says the Southbay Penang had to date attracted more than 3,000 prospective buyers of which 70% had registered their interest for Residence@Southbay’s superlink homes, and the rest registered their interest for Legenda@Southbay’s designer bungalows and Southbay City, the commercial precincts.

On the prices of Southbay Penang’s properties, Leong says the early registrants would still enjoy the old prices they signed up.

“We will not lower the prices but we will make it easier for buyers to own properties through our Easy Home Ownership scheme which has been very well received.

The Southbay Penang, comprising 376 units of landed residential properties and an integrated commercial hub, is scheduled for completion within seven years.

By The Star (by David Tan)