UEM Land counts on Nusajaya

From left: UEM Land strategic marketing GM Zamry Ibrahim, strategic marketing and communications director Zulkifli Tahmali and Mohamad Razif Abdul Wahab looking at the model of the company’s Nusa Bayu mixed property development project.

NUSAJAYA: UEM Land Holdings Bhd is banking on the on-track development of Nusajaya as the main selling point for its latest mixed property development project.

Senior marketing and sales manager Mohamad Razif Abdul Wahab said that Nusa Bayu, to be launched early next month, would be the company’s fourth ongoing project in Iskandar Malaysia.

The other three projects are East Ledang, Nusa Idaman and Puteri Harbour while Horizon Hills is a joint venture between UEM Land and Gamuda Bhd.

“Nusajaya is progressing well and moving on the right track as planned, attracting investments from both local and foreign investors,’’ Razif told StarBiz.

UEM Land is the master developer of the 9,308ha Nusajaya, the key driver of Iskandar Malaysia, the country’s first economic growth corridor launched on Nov 4, 2006.

Nusajaya comprises eight catalyst developments — Kota Iskandar (Johor’s new administrative centre), Southern Industrial and Logistic Clusters, Puteri Harbour Waterfront Development, EduCity, Medical City, International Destination Resort and Nusajaya Residences.

Razif said that Nusa Bayu, sited on 105.21ha along the Pontian Link, would have 5,000 residential and commercial properties and a gross development value of RM700mil.

He said the initial launch was set for 130 double-storey link houses, with a built-up area of 1,400 sq ft each and costing under RM300,000.

He said the company would target young families, first-time homebuyers and Malaysians working in Tuas and Jurong in Singapore, as the project was easily accessible from the Second Link crossing.

“We conducted a market study and found that there was a huge gap for new houses priced between RM200,000 and RM300,000 in Nusajaya,’’ Razif said.

Razif said feedback also showed that many buyers, including foreigners, were attracted to properties in Nusajaya.

Work on infrastructure and several development projects in Nusajaya are on schedule and are expected to be completed in the next two to five years.

They include the RM1.4bil Coastal Highway linking Johor Baru city centre to Nusajaya, Asia’s first Legoland Theme Park, Indoor Theme Park @ Puteri Harbour, Marlborough College, Newcastle University Medical Faculty and Pinewood Studios.

By The Star

SunwayMas ventures into Sri Lanka

SunwayMas Sdn Bhd (SunwayMas), the wholly-owned property development arm of Sunway Holdings Berhad (Sunway Holdings), signed a Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) with Dasa Group on September 24 to jointly develop a parcel of prime land in Sri Lanka’s capital city of Colombo. With the signing of this JVA, SunwayMas becomes the first Malaysian property developer to undertake a development project of such scale and nature in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Under this JVA, SunwayMas and Dasa Group will jointly undertake the development of a 34-storey building comprising about 70 commercial units and 180 residential units on prime freehold land in the premium mixed-use zone of Bambalapitiya in District Colombo 4. The proposed development has a gross development value of USD80 million (equivalent to approximately RM 250 million). The project will sit on a 1.14 acre land that is located 5km away from the central business district of Colombo.

The JV comes on the heels of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between SunwayMas and Dasa Group in June 2010. Under the JVA, the proposed structure is for SunwayMas to hold 65% of the shares and the Dasa Group 35%.

The JVA was signed by Sunway Holdings managing director Yau Kok Seng and Dasa Group of Companies chairman and founder S. D. Gunadasa. Yau said, "Today is a historic occasion as this is the first-of-its-kind venture by a Malaysian property developer into Sri Lanka. This is the beginning of an era of mutual economic co-operation and benefit between our two nations. Today, we have contributed towards a new paradigm - that of the opening up of the Sri Lankan economy to foreign investment and expertise, thus allows us to contribute to Sri Lanka’s nation building.”

Yau added, “Sunway Holdings has built a strong reputation in Malaysia for quality property offerings and pioneer development concepts. After today, Sri Lanka would be the third foreign country, apart from Singapore and China, where Sunway Holdings will have its property development foot print in.”

This brings Sunway Holdings’ land bank to a total of more than 430 acres with potential Gross Development Value of approximately RM2.6 billion, which will be developed over the next 3 years. The Group currently has RM450 million in unbilled property sales and is expected to launch about RM500 million worth of property projects in Malaysia and Singapore in the next few months.

S. D. Gunadasa, Chairman & Founder, Dasa Group of Companies, said at the ceremony, "This JV marks an important milestone for the Dasa Group’s first venture in mixed development in Sri Lanka. We look forward to more collaborations with Sunway Holdings for our future expansions.”

“While the Sri Lankan property market gears itself for robust growth in the next 5 years, international collaborations with premier property players such as the Sunway Holdings will contribute immensely to raise the standards in the industry as well as to create new benchmarks”, he concluded.

By The Star

Mines 2 aims to rake in RM15m rental from new shopping mall

MINES 2 Sdn Bhd, the owner of Mines 2, is aiming to rake in rentals of RM15 million a year from its new shopping mall that will start operations on October 15.

Its chairman Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew said with the "street mall" concept, Mines 2 offers unique shopping atmosphere with colourful light-emitting diode (LED) lights.

"We are the first shopping mall in the country to use 100 per cent LED in our operations," he said.

The RM150 million 11-storey commercial building has 400 shops and kiosks.

The company aims to secure 90 per cent tenancy rate by June next year.

Lee was speaking to reporters after the signing ceremony between Mines 2 Sdn Bhd and Frontken Corp Bhd, a service provider of surface metamor-phosis engineering to set up the Frontken LED lighting technology in the mall, recently.

Also present was Frontken's executive chairman and managing director Willie Wong.

"We aim to attract 10 to 12 per cent more visitors from the Mines Shopping Fair to shop here (Mines 2)," Lee said, noting that the Mines Shopping Fair has one million visitors a month.

Frontken's new LED lighting technology adapts to the green environmental initiatives, reduces energy cost and offers brighter and higher efficiency.

Lee said LED lights save energy, promote sustainability, reduce environmental impact and improve the quality of the light.

"We have made an investment of RM5 million to use LED technology here and hope to recoup the investment in less than five years," he said.

Lee said with Frontken's LED technology, Mines2 is expected to reduce utility expenses by up to 40 per cent from the lighting and air-conditioning loads.

He added that in the future, Mines 2 will continue to cooperate with Frontken to build a car park equipped with LED lights with 2,000 capacity.

By Business Times

Sunway Holdings still rated a ‘buy’

ECM Libra Investment Research is maintaining a "buy" call on Sunway Holdings Bhd in anticipation of strong earnings growth and more landbank acquisitions in the pipeline.

In a research note here today, ECM Libra said, it has raised Sunway's estimates for financial year 2011 and 2012 by 0.7 per cent to 7.5 per cent respectively, as the company remains the top "buy" for the construction sector.

"This is premised on a strong earnings growth of 67.6 per cent in financial year 2010 and undemanding forward price to earnings (P/E) valuation of 7.8 times, more landbank acquisitions in the pipeline as well as strength in securing overseas construction contracts," it said.

ECM Libra's target price, which based on 10 times price to earning on mid financial year earnings per share (EPS), remains unchanged at RM2.61 as the impact on financial year earnings is negligible.

Last Friday, Sunway Holdings entered into a joint venture (JV) agreement with Dasa Tourist Complex Pvt Ltd to undertake a mixed development project in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The project is on a piece of 0.46 hectares (1.14 acres) freehold land with an expected gross development value (GDV) of RM250 million.

The development is for a 34-storey building comprising 180 residential and 70 commercial development units.

Sharing the same view, OSK Research is also maintaining a "buy" call on Sunway Holdings with a target price of RM2.52.

By Bernama