Penang Property Talk

A newly proposed strata residential development by Diversified Enterprises Sdn. Bhd. at Ara Kuda in Northern Seberang Perai. Located on a 14.1 acres land adjacent to Taman Ara Kuda, only several steps away from the Penang-Kedah state border. It only takes less than 10 minutes to drive to Kulim Hi-tech Park, about 25 minutes drive to Penang Bridge during off-peak hours.

This development will feature a gated and guarded community, offering 58 units of 2-storey semi-detached houses and one unit of 2-storey bungalow.

The project is pending for approval. More details to be available upon official launch.

Project Name : (to be confirmed)
Location : Ara Kuda, Kubang Semang
Property Type : Gated & Guarded
Land Area: 14.1 acres
Land Tenure: Freehold
Built-up Area: (to be confirmed)
Total Units : 58 (semi-detached), 1 (bungalow)
Developer : Diversified Enterprises Sdn. Bhd.

DISCLAIMER: This article is solely based on research done using publicly available data. This is not an advertisement. Any claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a project or service should be verified with the developer, provider or party in question.

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Penang will sell state land at market price via open tender in order to raise revenue.

Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow in his winding up speech at the state legislative assembly here today, said the move was to manage the deficit budget tabled for 2021.

With the move, he added, the state does not have to cut into its consolidated reserve funds.

“We can now consider selling state land through open tender unlike the current practice where the sale of state land is conducted directly by certain applicants and the sale price is based on the value of land set by the Valuation and Property Services Department.

“Through open tender, we can sell the state land to the highest bidder. This process will be done in accordance with land sale regulations,” he said.

Besides selling land, Chow said dormant state land would be transferred to the Penang Development Corporation (PDC) to be monetised.

Chow also said that another method was to reclassify rural land as urban land, this as development had changed the landscape of some rural areas, turning them into towns.

He also said it was unavoidable for Penang to have presented a deficit budget of RM403.8 million for 2021, adding that it had a choice to present a surplus budget but decided against it as it had allocated a large sum of the budget towards protecting the people’s welfare in facing a challenging economy.

“We have been presenting a deficit budget every year, but finally, we always record a surplus, except in 2018. The state’s revenue is also affected by the Covid-19 pandemic since one of the highest sources of revenue for the state is from the entertainment and tourism industriies,” he added.

Meanwhile, Chow has asked Putrajaya to allocate at least RM1 billion to the state annually for its contribution to the economy.

He cited last year’s contribution of RM94.7 billion, or 6.7 per cent of the gross domestic product, with Penang being the fourth highest contributor in the country

“As such, the federal government must reward Penang fairly,” he added.

He also noted that Penang only received RM241 million in federal funding this year, comprising annual per capita contributions based on population, a RM15.1 million Covid-19 aid grant, and road repair funds, among others.

Source: NST Online

The State Government through the Urban Redevelopment Committee (URC)  is advised to implement redevelopment for housing projects owned by the Penang Development Corporation (PDC) around Pintasan Cecil and Weld Quay.

Pengkalan Kota State Assemblyman (ADUN), Danial Gooi Zi Sen said, the move is appropriate as the housing projects are developed with a less conducive design.

“It is known that these housing projects were developed during the development period of the Tun Abdul Razak Complex (Komtar) project and the design is not very conducive.

Since these projects are landed (landed), it make sense for the State Government to consider the implementation of redevelopment taking into account the density factor.

“Additional facilities should also be included if the development of stratified housing can be studied and considered,” he said when debating the Development Budget Bill 2021 during the 14th Penang State Legislative Assembly at Dewan Sri Pinang, last week.

Zi Sen added that the State Government is also advised to study the implementation of incentive schemes especially for the owners of dilapidated buildings around the George Town area, especially on the dilapidated and abandoned Victoria Street.

“This incentive is believed to help nurture and encourage maintenance, carry out business or residential activities can be carried out in the dilapidated abandoned buildings,” he added.

Source: Buletin Mutiara

The construction works for the components of the Gurney Wharf project are scheduled to take place early next year.

Penang Local Government, Housing, Town and Country Planning Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo said the construction works for the entire project would take about two years.

“We hope that the public can enjoy some of the components after the first year.

“We want to expedite the project for the people of Penang.

“The Penang government has appointed Tanjung Pinang Development Sdn Bhd (TPD) as the project management office (PMO) for the project, since the company is currently managing the land reclamation works of Seri Tanjung Pinang 2 (STP2) that has been approved by the Department of Environment (DoE).

“The state is in the process of appraising and appointing the consultants for the Gurney Wharf project,” he replied to the oral question by Lee Chun Kit (PH-Pulau Tikus) during the State Legislative Assembly in Dewan Sri Pinang today.

The Gurney Wharf project is a proposed seafront public park to be located on part of the 131.09 acres of reclaimed land, off Gurney Drive.

Out of the 131.09 acres of land, about 40 acres are allocated for public facilities.

Jagdeep said the state is committed to provide green and open spaces for the public to enjoy.

Among the components of the Gurney Wharf project, Jagdeep mentioned, are a promenade, a children’s playground, a viewing deck, a skate park, open space parking lots, and ramp facilities for the disabled.

Find out more about Gurney Wharf

Source: Buletin Mutiara

The Penang government, through the Penang Hill Corporation, will issue a Request For Proposal (RFP) likely next month for its proposed Penang Hill cable car project.

Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow (PH – Padang Kota) told the State Legislative Assembly in Dewan Sri Pinang today that project would be implemented with the cooperation of the private sector through a Public Private Partnership (PPP).

“This cable car project is expected to take three to four years to complete and ready for operation,” Chow said when replying to an oral question by Lim Guan Eng (PH – Air Putih) who wanted to know the status of the project.

Find out more about Penang Hill cable car project

“The project was approved by the Federal Government under the 2020 Budget in October 2019.

“However, the Ministry of Finance through a letter dated April 3, 2020 stated that the application was not considered by the ministry and cannot be continued.

“On behalf of the Penang government, I had submitted an appeal on June 10 this year to the ministry to review and reconsider the allocation application for the proposed Penang Hill cable car project.

“But until today, we have not received any response from the ministry.”

Penang was initially given an allocation of RM100 million by the Federal Government to build the Penang Hill cable car project under 2020 Budget on Oct 11 when Lim was then the Finance Minister.

This was, however, withdrawn following a change of the Federal Government with Perikatan Nasional taking over Putrajaya from Pakatan Harapan in February.

Chow said under the 11th Malaysia Plan, the total number of Federal Government projects approved for Penang under 2020 Budget until Aug 2 is 167 projects with a total cost of RM14.9 billion.

“These projects consist of 126 new projects with a cost of RM10.52 billion and 41 extension projects with a cost of RM4.38 billion. Out of the 167 projects, 148 are physical and 19 non-physical.”

The breakdown of the 167 Federal Government approved projects is as follows: planning (13), according to schedule (122), completed (25), behind schedule (6) and ‘ill’ (1).

Lim, in a supplementary question, also wanted to know whether there was any reason given by the Federal Government for the cancellation of the Penang Hill cable car project.

In addition to that, he said the previous Pakatan Harapan Federal Government had guaranteed a RM10 billion loan for the Penang Transport Master Plan to help reduce traffic congestion in the state.

He asked whether its cancellation has anything to do with ‘revenge’ by the current PN Federal Government.

Chow said until now there was no good news from the Federal Government for Penang and the state had already followed up with an appeal to the ministry and prime minister.

The appeal is also to obtain the loan or bond guarantee from the Federal Government so that the state could carry out the public transportation project.

He also said the state would want that the projects to be included under the 12th Malaysia Plan.

“The 12th Malaysia Plan is not finalised yet; it’s only in January 2021. We still hope that because of the importance of the projects, the Federal Government will consider them.

“With the situation now, Penang cannot just sit and wait. We need a final decision so that we can take alternative action,” Chow said.

Source: Buletin Mutiaria