MK Land launched RM3b Bangalore project in India

Property developer MK Land Holdings Bhd will launch the first phase of its RM3 billion affordable housing project in northern Bangalore, India, by June next year, three months later than initially planned.

Its redesignated executive chairman, Tan Sri Mustapha Kamal Abu Bakar, said that building plans were awaiting the approval of authorities in the state of Karnataka.

"Under Phase 1, we will build 4,500 affordable homes which are a replica of MK Land's house design in Malaysia," Mustapha Kamal told reporters after the group's annual general meeting in Petaling Jaya yesterday.

MK Land is partnering two other companies in the project: Embassy Group of India and MKN Embassy Development Sdn Bhd.

MKN is a joint-venture company set up by MK Land and Embassy Group to develop information technology parks, particularly in Cyberjaya, Selangor.

It will be the group's first project in India and second overseas, after Namibia. The development will encompass 120ha near the new Bangalore International Airport.

The project will be undertaken in four phases and developed within five years. It will potentially deliver 16,000 affordable houses, ranging from 650 sq ft to 1,200 sq ft, and about 560 retail outlets.

The houses, priced from RM100,000 to RM130,000 each, are targeted at the low-middle-income group.

Bangalore, India's Silicon City and Karnataka's capital, is home to well-known information and communications technology companies, related colleges and research institutions.

Mustapha Kamal said the group had received more than 600,000 applications to buy the Bangalore houses. The city has a pent-up demand for more than six million houses.

By Business Times