Emkay remains key player in Cyberjaya

Since its inception 15 years ago, Cyberjaya has come a long way to become the country’s premier information, communications and technology (ICT) hub, with the Emkay Group being one of the initiative’s key drivers from Day One.

The group, which has contributed in fulfilling Cyberjaya’s needs for office space, commercial and residential units — is here to stay and play a firmer role, its senior executive said.

Spearheaded by its founder and group executive chairman Tan Sri Mustapha Kamal Abu Bakar, the privately-held Emkay group is one of the property players that believes in the development of Cyberjaya and will continue to consolidate its position in the country’s ICT heartland.

Emkay Group senior general manager Jayasangaran Dhanapal said the group had to date invested close to RM1 billion on various projects there with a net lettable area spanning over 1.1 million sq ft that was fully snapped up by government ministries and multinational corporations.

Cyberjaya is now home to more than 1,200 civil servants, who had moved from space-strapped Putrajaya. As at June 2010, it is now the home ground to a daylight population of more than 42,000 people from 26,000 in 2006.

Cyberjaya is also a workplace for 19,000 workers spread across 50 MSC Malaysia status-compliant buildings spanning 5.8 million sq ft operated by the likes of HSBC, DHL, Shell, Motorola, Ericsson, Satyam, Dell and many more.

Out of the 42,000 people, some 40 per cent are students from the Lim Kok Wing University, Multimedia University and the Cyberjaya University of Medical Sciences.

“We will continue to make available another two million sq ft at our MKN Techzone project under Phase 2 by 2014.
“We are now in talks with various government ministries, local and foreign multinational corporations which are keen to take up the additional area. MKN Techzone in Cyberjaya is the place to be in,” Jayasangaran told Business Times in Cyberjaya recently.

What makes MKN Techzone in Cyberjaya tick?
Jayasangaran said MKN Techzone continues to be the location of choice due to its close proximity to the Putrajaya administrative centre of about 2km through the Putrajaya link.

There are plans by master developer of Cyberjaya, Setia Haruman Sdn Bhd, to have additional access to the Maju Expressway that will directly connect to Kuala Lumpur City Centre. The highway has markedly reduced travel time to only 20 minutes to Cyberjaya.

The proposed new link will further enhance the accessibility to MKN Techzone, a project launched by Emkay in December 2006.

MKN Techzone also hosts various facilities such as cafetaria with a seating capacity of 250 at one time, 6 stalls, a day care centre which can house about 60 babies, MAMPU and Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam.

It also has a dedicated RM26 million multi-level carpark with more than 1,000 surface and basement carparks.
It will also build five blocks of hostels with more than 3,000 beds. Construction is due to start by the end of the year.

A cluster of 100,000 sq ft of retail development is also in the pipeline for development in MKN Techzone.
“Having experience in building office spaces and handling the requirements, processes and documentation of various government departments and multinational companies, we are now more than ready to welcome them,” said Jayasangaran.

The Emkay Group is now poised to be the specialist in office building development, he added.

By Business Times