When developing a luxury resort is a hobby

KUALA LUMPUR: Cardiologist Dr N.S. Dhaliwal has ventured into a hobby which most people would call a business.

Sixty-five-year-old Dr Dhaliwal has decided to turn his passion for building houses into a project.

Together with two other partners, Michiel Leo Philip and Roger Mauclair Deslorieux, the team is building a luxury development with a gross development value of RM200 million in Kudat, Sabah. It is called the The Nyior Luxury Villas Borneo Beach Resort.

The project, which is expected to be launched in the third quarter of this year, will have 43 villas and 57 serviced suites. It will include a club house.

The project is being developed by Borneo Eco-Green Resorts Sdn Bhd, in which Dr Dhaliwal has a 40 per cent equity interest, Leo Philip 30 per cent and Deslorieux 30 per cent.

Built on a 10.13ha fronting the Marudu Bay, the two-, three- and four-bedroom villas will have a built-up of between 2,500 sq ft and 5,000 sq ft. However, each lot in itself is double the size of the built-up.

"They will be sold from RM2.5 million to RM5 million," Dr Dhaliwal, who is the managing director of the property, said.

It has already hired a marketing firm in the UK to handle the sale of the property.

The company is targeting to sell the property to specific markets like the UK, Russia, the Middle East and other high-profile buyers.

The Nyior, he said, is not to be confused with an earlier project called Kudat Riviera, launched by another developer. This project is said to have been abandoned.

The Nyior resort is said to be private and exclusive, and those who land at the Kota Kinabalu airport will then be transported via a 20-minute helicopter ride.

"We were looking for a place for us ... and realised this was quite big and decided to develop a resort instead," Dr Dhaliwal said.

The sea-front resort, he said, would give access to diving, particularly wreck-diving where shipwreck is explored.

The entire project could take three years to complete.

By Business Times

M’sians in S’pore can help promote housing scheme

SINGAPORE: Malaysians residing in Singapore can assume a vital role in promoting the “Malaysia My Second Home Programme” (MM2H) among Singaporeans, says Tourism Malaysia director in Singapore Zalizam Zakaria.

He said Singaporeans were among the top ten purchasers of properties in Malaysia under MM2H followed by Japanese, British, Americans, Chinese nationals, Iranians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Indian nationals, Australians and South Koreans.

The programme is promoted by Malaysia to allow foreigners, who fulfill certain criteria, to stay in Malaysia for as long as possible on a 10-year multiple-entry social visit pass which is renewable.

Open to citizens of all countries recognised by Malaysia regardless of race, religion, gender or age, applicants are allowed to bring their spouses and unmarried children below the age of 18 as dependants.

The Malaysian High Commission in Singapore, in collaboration with Tourism Malaysia briefed Malaysians living in the city-state at its monthly “Malaysians Get Together” on the advantages of owning a house in Malaysia.

According to Zalizam, Malaysians should do a “sales pitch” among their Singapore friends by highlighting that the Government would continuously seek to improve the programme.

Quoting International Living.com, Zalizam said Malaysia ranked the 16th most preferred top retirement haven in the “Annual Global Retirement Index” in 2009.

Apart from a relatively low cost of living, he said it was worthwhile to note that those who qualified would be able to bring their immediate family members along, own freehold property in Malaysia, import worldly goods and even purchase a brand new car, tax free.

“They can also enjoy all the multiple benefits that Malaysia offers to its citizens,” he said, explaining further that Malaysia had an efficient and affordable healthcare system.

By Bernama

Strong interest to jointly develop 50 acres near KLIA2

PETALING JAYA: Twenty companies have collected request for proposal (RFP) documents to partner Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) to develop 50 acres near KLIA2 in Sepang.

Due to the large number and requests from the companies interested to be developers, MAHB has extended the closing date of the RFP to July 4 from June 1.

MAHB posted the RFP notice on its website on March 31 and documents were available for collection from April 4 onwards. The airport operator had also briefed interested parties on its requirements in April.

The RFP is for the privatisation of the 50-acre commercial development that would comprise premium factory outlets centre, a food and beverage centre and an auto city. Since it covers a big area, several parties may be selected.


Bashir ... ‘The 50 acres form the first phase of the entire development.’

“The 50 acres form the first phase of the entire development. We will provide the land (and partner parties that will develop the land). We have completed levelling the land recently,'' MAHB managing director Tan Sri Bashir Ahmad told StarBiz in an interview.

The 50 acres is part of the 6,750-acre landbank that is earmarked for development around KLIA and this development dubbed KLIA Aeropolis falls under the wholesale and retail initiative under the NKEA. It would transform KLIA into a diversified airport city, providing significant opportunities including employment, leisure and tourism.

KLIA2 is 1.5km from the KL International Airport (KLIA) main terminal building. KLIA2 is the new low cost carrier terminal (LCCT) that is under construction and it would be able to cater up to 30 million passengers.

MAHB is asking the Government for an extension on the lease of the land identified for development from the current 25 years to 60 years.

After the RFPs are in, the evaluation process will begin and the key would be to select the right partner and bring in appropriate brands and retailers.

“(A lot of it is about) selling the right product and getting the model right from the onset. It is not (merely) about opening shops but the right shops, the right products and location,'' he said.

The targeted completion date of the 50-acre development is in 2013.

The commercial development has been identified as the key driver to help the airport operator boost revenue in the long term while it maintains competitive aviation charges for airlines and passengers.

In its 2010 annual report, MAHB quoted Datamonitor Retail as saying that the global airport retail market was expected to grow by 60% in 2015 and be worth US$44.1bil. In 2010, a 8.4% global growth rate for airport retailers was fuelled by the Asia Pacific, Middle East and African regions. MAHB is positioning itself to take advantage of the opportunity and thus the greater focus on its commercial business.

“We will get rental income and royalties from this land venture,'' Bashir said, but did not elaborate as the RFPs are not in yet.

Over the past year, MAHB has increased retail space in both the LCCT and KLIA substantially. There is equal contribution from both commercial and aeronautical businesses to revenues but the plan is to drive commercial revenue contribution to reach 60% by 2014.

MAHB hopes to also more than double revenues to RM3.2bil by the same time and expects its earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (EBITDA) to hit RM1bil by then.

For the financial year ended Dec 31, 2010, MAHB recorded RM1.8bil in revenues, RM378mil in net profit and EBIDTA stood at RM706mil. The company is scheduled to announce its first quarter results tomorrow. The full year estimates for 2011 by an analyst are that revenues should increase to RM1.9bil and net profit to RM472mil while EBIDTA should reach RM783mil.

There will be other phases in the development of KLIA Aeropolis which would include a commercial business district which houses office parks, retail/commercial centres, an auto mall, exposition/convention centre, medical centre, training centre complex and service apartments. There are also plans to build golf courses, a boutique hotel and a theme park as well as agro-tourism tracts of land.

Last year, all 39 airports operated and managed by MAHB nationwide handled a total of 57.8 million passengers and Bashir said he would not be surprised if they manage 60 million this year.

By The Star