Township and niche projects for UMLand

Pee Tong Lim (left) exchanging documents with Ng Boon Yew. Looking on are Johor state investment centre general manager Mohamed Basir Mohamed Sali (second from left) and Singapore consulate-general in Johor Baru Lim Hong Huai.

PASIR GUDANG: United Malayan Land Bhd (UMLand) plans to focus on townships and the niche property development in view of the market demand for such properties.

Chief executive officer Pee Tong Lim said the two segments of properties had their own clienteles and the company would customised the developments to cater to their needs.

He said new growth areas would require integrated township developments offering affordable houses while the affluent would go for niche properties.

“The company sees good prospects in both segments and will continue to explore the opportunities available,’’ Pee told a press conference after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between UMLand’s wholly-owned subsidiary Seri Alam Properties Sdn Bhd and Raffles Campus Pte Ltd (RCPL) which was represented by its chairman and chief executive officer Ng Boon Yew yesterday.

Pee said the company was currently developing three integrated township projects – Bandar Seri Alam and Taman Seri Austin in Johor and Bandar Seri Putra in Bangi, Selangor.

It had completed three high-end residential serviced apartments and condominiums namely Seri Bukit Ceylon at Jalan Bukit Ceylon, Suasana Sentral Loft at KL Sentral and Suasana Bangsar.

“We will be launching our niche project in the Johor Baru along Jalan Wong Ah Fook this year,’’ he said.

The project sited on two parcels of land next to Wisma Lembaga Kependudukan Malaysia building would consist of a hotel tower and a serviced apartment block.

Separately, Pee said an integrated transportation hub would be built at Bandar Seri Alam township here to be linked with the proposed 100km intra-city commuter for Iskandar Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Ng said RCPL would invest RM35mil to build Raffles International School on a 6.07ha site in Bandar Seri Alam township and it would be the company’s first international school project in Malaysia.

He said the first intake of students from kindergarten to high school would be done in the third-quarter of 2013.

By The Star

UEM Land is strong FBM KLCI candidate

UEM Land is a strong candidate for inclusion as an index component of the FBM KLCI being the largest property stock on Bursa Malaysia by market capitalisation and landbank size now, OSK Research says.

It said that despite the company's rather premium valuation against its peers, the stock's potential inclusion into the barometer and positive news flow from Iskandar region would give the boost for an upward rerating.

The acquisition of Sunrise which was completed in February, boosted UEM Land's market capitalisation to about RM11 billion.

"Once included as one of the index components, it will be the only pure property stock in the index.

"It will raise the company''s profile and visibility, and subsequently justify its premium valuation given that the FBM KLCI top 30 stocks are typically used as a benchmark portfolio," OSK said in its Malaysia Equity Investment Research Daily today.

UEM Land is the flagship company for the real estate investment and development businesses of UEM Group, which is a wholly-owned by Khazanah Nasional, the government's investment holding company.

OSK said UEM Land was a good proxy to the government's strategy to propel the domestic economy towards high income status, particularly under the Economic Transformation Programme.

Due to its size and the growth prospects, the company's liquidity was the highest among the listed property stocks as foreign and local institutional interest on the stock had picked up, it added.

By Bernama

Concessionaire: Second bridge will be completed by November 2013

The second Penang Bridge is 47.55% completed as of March.

The project is however 2.85% behind the 50.4% scheduled progress.

State Public Works, Utilities and Transportation Committee chairman Lim Hock Seng said concession holder Jambatan Kedua Sdn Bhd (JKSB) had assured the state government that it would catch up with the scheduled completion of the 24km bridge slated for November 2013.

Construction works on the bridge started in late November 2008.

Lim also said over 700 workers were working round the clock at the United Engineers Malaysia (UEM) segmental box girder plant in Batu Kawan to produce 8,092 units of segmental box girders for the bridge.

“They have already moulded 987 units. A total of 28 units are already fixed on-site out in the sea with 14 of them on each side of the bridge.

“Besides that, piling works are 84% completed while the building of pile caps and columns are 55% and 45% completed respectively,” he said during a visit to the plant yesterday.

Lim added that the two toll plaza buildings, to be located in Batu Kawan, were still on the design board.

“We will also implement a green concept for the package to be environmental friendly,” he added.

Buildcast Sdn Bhd (a wholly-owned subsidiary of UEM Builders Bhd) production manager Anuar Abdul said there were 22 moulds and three factories at the segment casting plant.

“Between 12 and 14 pieces of segmental box girders are produced in a day and the process is a tedious one,” he said.

The RM4.5bil second bridge project comprises three main packages — construction of the sub-structure by CHEC Construction Sdn Bhd (the local arm of China Harbour Engineering Co Ltd), casting of the segmental box girder by UEM Builders Bhd, and construction of the Batu Kawan and Batu Maung exit and entry points and trumpet interchange by Cergas Murni, IJM Construction and HRA Teguh.

The bridge, which will link Batu Kawan in Seberang Prai to Batu Maung on Penang island, is poised to be the longest bridge in the country and Southeast Asia.

By The Star