Guocoland to invest RM12.5b in eco-city

PETALING JAYA: Hong Leong Group's property arm Guocoland (M) Bhd will invest RM12.5bil under the Greater Kuala Lumpur National Key Economic Area for the development of a 4,000-acre eco-city in Sepang.

The gross development value of the Sepang International City is RM48bil and the project is expected to contribute RM1.34bil to the country's gross national income and create 4,712 jobs.

The investment is the biggest from a single Entry Point Project (EPP) partner under the new 21 Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) projects announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak at an ETP Progress Update briefing yesterday.

Managing director Yeow Wai Siew said Guocoland was in the midst of getting the approvals for construction works to begin.

“We are now going through the proper application and planning stage with the Federal and State Governments. Hopefully we will be able to start the development in one-and-a half years' time,” he said.

Yeow said Guocoland was also talking to international investors for the project. “There are a lot of investors from East Asia now, especially from Japan and China, with some from Singapore,” he said.

He noted that since Japan's March 2011 tsunami disaster, Japanese investors had been looking abroad for property that they could use for emergencies.

The seafront development in the southern corridor of Selangor will include commercial, business, residential and leisure developments, a hub for institutions of higher learning and a large world-class urban park modelled after the Central Park in New York City.

By The Star