PHB shelves proposals for Bangsar land

Pelaburan Hartanah Bhd owns the land where the Unilever headquarters and factory once sat.

KUALA LUMPUR: Pelaburan Hartanah Bhd (PHB) has shelved all proposals from several companies to develop a prime 8.09ha site on Jalan Bangsar in Kuala Lumpur, its chief said.

PHB, a unit of Yayasan Amanah Hartanah Bumiputera and Mayban Investment Management Sdn Bhd, owns the land where the Unilever headquarters and factory once sat.

It has received proposals from companies like Mah Sing Group Bhd, Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd (MRCB), SP Setia Bhd, UEM Land Holdings Bhd and Land & General Bhd.

Business Times reported recently that MRCB had emerged as the front-runner to secure the land development job, which is estimated to generate more than RM5 billion in gross development value.

However, PHB managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Kamalul Arifin Othman said it is not in discussion with any parties currently.

“We are just waiting for approval from the City Hall for the masterplan that we submitted to them early this year.

“Once the masterplan has been approved, we will decide on what to do next,” Kamalul told Business Times via a telephone interview recently.

PHB may award the contract to develop the land to one party or parcel it out to several property developers.

It may also take a stake in the project through a joint venture,
Kamalul said.

“This is a huge project that requires proper master planning.

We want it to be the next mega development for Kuala Lumpur,” he said.

Current developments in Kuala Lumpur include the MRCB’s KL Sentral integrated transport hub in Brickfields, SP Setia’s KL Eco City and Setia Federal Hill and the RM26 billion Tun Razak Exchange.

Set up by the government in 2006, PHB is to facilitate Bumiputera ownership in prime commercial real estate.

PHB also has a trust fund that invests in commercial
properties.

Meanwhile, Mah Sing – one of the interested developers – said it is waiting for a final decision from PHB on the status of its proposal and the land development plan.

“PHB has not come back to us. So we believe we still have a chance to bank the job.

“We think the contract would be awarded after the elections,” its managing director and group chief executive Tan Sri Leong Hoy Kum told Business Times.

By Business Times