PENANGITES living on the mainland have called on the authorities to correct the misconception that the state comprises only an island, excluding the mainland part of the state.

Health counsellor Sanjay C.S, 38, and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) doctorate student Shamsher Singh Thind, 34, said it was disappointing that the state and federal authorities and even the private sector like Pos Malaysia and PLUS Expressway, commonly referred to Penang as either an island or city.

Both Sanjay and Shamsher Singh are from Seberang Prai on the mainland.

“Penang is a state comprising both island and mainland yet you see billboards and road signs all over the place that indicate otherwise,” said Shamsher Singh in an interview yesterday.

“This misconception can be easily cleared up and it’s important that we do so,” he added.

Using one example, Shamsher Singh said the Penang Port’s signboard on the free crossing ‘from Penang to Butterworth’ at the ferry terminal in Weld Quay should read ‘from George Town to Butterworth’.

Another example is the ‘Selamat Datang ke Pulau Pinang’ (Welcome to Penang) sign after the Penang bridge toll booth heading towards the island. He feels it should be ‘Welcome to the Penang Bridge’.

“Also, road signs in George Town have the postcode followed by Penang instead of the district which is George Town.

“Why are we not using the proper address which is George Town? The only time you hear the name being used is during the annual George Town Festival and George Town City Day on Jan 1.

“Stop referring to the island as Penang or George Town because it’s so much more than that,” he said.

He said that on the PLUS highway, arrows point to Butterworth and Penang when the latter actually refers to George Town.

“This gives the impression that Butterworth is not part of Penang but a state by itself,” Shamsher Singh said.

He said many did not consider Seberang Prai or Butterworth as part of the state and something should be done to correct the general perception.

He called on the state government to unite all Penangites on the island and the mainland by abolishing the Seberang Prai Municipal Council (MPSP).

“The Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) should take over the duties of the MPSP.

“If this is not feasible, then the MPPP should be renamed the Northeast and Southwest Municipal Council.

“Stop making those of us who live in Seberang Prai feel like the state’s stepchildren,” he said.

He added that an official letter had been sent to several quarters including state exco members.

In an immediate response, State Local Government Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow said the official name for the ‘Pearl of the Orient’ according to the State Constitution is ‘The State of Penang’.

He said that conventionally, the island was known as Pulau Pinang, which in English means Penang Island, while the mainland was called Seberang Prai.

“So using the name Pulau Pinang to refer to the island is not technically wrong.

“That said, even the Mandarin-speaking community has raised similar concerns about the use of the state’s name,” he said.

Commenting on the suggestion to change the name of the MPPP, Chow said the state government had applied to the Housing and Local Government Ministry for Penang island to be accorded city status.

If approved, the MPPP would be named ‘Penang Island City Council’ and there would not be a need for the abolishment of the MPSP.

Source: The Star

GEORGE TOWN: Eligible folk will now be able to own a 700sq ft low medium-cost (LMC) flat in the city.

A total of 1,320 units of LMC and medium-cost (MC) flats will be built on a 2.91ha land in Jalan S.P. Chelliah under the state’s People’s Housing Project (PPR).

Komtar assemblyman Ng Wei Aik said the Penang Development Corporation (PDC) was holding several meetings with the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP), which owns the land, to discuss the development.

He said the LMC units would cost about RM72,500 per unit while the price for the MC units had yet to be finalised.

“We are in the last stages of planning and in the midst of fine-tuning the plan so that the projects will have a multi-storey car park, rooftop garden, futsal/badminton courts, a community hall, kindergarten, surau and other facilities,” he told reporters during a site inspection yesterday.

Ng said there would be two blocks of LMC and MC flats and each block would be between 20 and 25-storey high.

He added that the MPPP quarters currently located at the site would be demolished for the project.

“There are also eight Hindu temples here which will be relocated within the vicinity to make way for the project,” he said.

MPPP Planning Committee alternate chairman Felix Ooi Keat Hin said they had also identified a 2.9ha of land in Padang Tembak and another 5.26ha of land in Jalan Perak for LMC units. He said work on the project in Jalan S.P. Chelliah was scheduled to start by year-end.

Source: The Star

Tambun Royale City, a gated and guarded development by Jadi Group. Strategically located along Jalan Perindustrian Bukit Minyak and mere minutes drive to Bukit Tambun PLUS interchange. This residential development has 3 unique gated schemes:

Royale Heights

[nggallery id=21]

• 3-storey bungalow – 21 units
• 2-storey zero-lot bungalow – 64 units
• 3-storey terrace (type A) – 36 units
• 3-storey terrace (type B) – 24 units

Royale Nova

[nggallery id=22]

• 3-storey terrace (type A) – 28 units
• 3-storey terrace (type B) – 74 units
• 2-storey terrace – 80 unites

Royale Infinity

[nggallery id=23]

Comprises feature 3 blocks of apartments, totaling around 700 units, ranging from 700 sq ft studios to 1,480 sq ft family suites. The apartments will include a breathtaking 40m cliff-hanging infinity pool in addition to a multitude of other facilities. [more details…]

IMPACTED by high-land cost in Penang, Ivory Properties Group Bhd will focus on building high-rise properties on the island.

Group chairman and chief executive officer Datuk Low Eng Hock says the price of landed properties may be beyond the affordability of most due to exorbitant land prices.

”We hardly come by a big parcel of land to plan for landed projects on the island. Most are pockets of land suitable for high rise development.

”We don’t think planning for landed properties will work; the property prices will be very expensive,” Low adds.

The cost of a plot of net land in a prime area like Pulau Tikus is between RM500 and RM600 per sq ft. In Tanjung Bungah and Batu Ferringhi, land is priced between RM300 to RM400 per sq ft, while in the South-West district it is between RM100 and RM200 per sq ft.

The land price today is about 20% more than a year ago.

Ivory plans to launch only high-rise schemes in the second half of this year. These include:

the first phase of the RM10bil Penang World City (PWC) project in Bayan Mutiara

the RM300mil third and fourth phases of the residential towers for Penang Times Square

The Bay, a RM130mil sea-fronting condominium block in Batu Ferringhi

and the RM400mil City Mall and City Residence project in Tanjung Tokong

These are some of the key projects that will spur the growth of the group over the next five years.

Last year, Ivory acquired the 102.56 acres for the PWC project for RM1.072bil and 2.4 acres for The City Mall and City Residence in Tanjung Tokong for RM40mil.

The 1.1 acres for the The Bay project in Batu Ferringhi was acquired for RM25mil in 2010.

Despite the high land cost, Ivory plans to keep a percentage of the properties affordable.

The first phase of the PWC project on a 10-acre site, with an RM800mil gross development value, comprises approximately 1,500 condominium units, of which about 15% will be affordably priced between RM300,000 and RM500,000 for units with built-up areas of 600 sq ft and 800 sq ft.

“Subsequent phases for PWC will also see 15% of the properties priced in the affordable range of between RM300,000 and RM500,000. These units were in the entire master plan as a value-added component from the very early stage, even during the tender exercise for the project,” Low adds.

Low says the group also wants to position The Bay project as a medium to high-end scheme, as investors’ preference for luxurious super-condominiums has dried up.

As for the City Mall and City Residence project, the plan is to develop 80% residential units and 20% of three-storey commercial lots.

“We are looking at selling the City Mall and City Residence units each for between RM700,000 and RM750,000. The City Mall will have a gross built-up area of 600,000 sq ft. For the residential towers for Penang Times Square, there will be 700 condominium units of various sizes, ranging from 400 sq ft to 1,200 sq ft,” he says.

To differentiate Ivory from its competitors, Low says the group will use architectural and cultural themes of a particular country in the Penang World City project. .

“As we are planning for a world class city within PWC. Economies of scale is of the essence. We need a huge number of Penangites to call Penang World City their home. That is why PWC has affordable components,,” he says.

There would be Chinese, Korean, Middle Eastern and European villages in PWC, so that the properties can be marketed in that particular country through an appointed real estate agent, he says.

“We want to create a world culture in order to attract tourism and foreign investors and to differentiate PWC from the other mega-development projects on the island. These parcels will be solely for en-bloc sales to expatriates,” he says.

Last July, Ivory won the right from Penang Development Corporation to purchase and develop the PWC project in Bayan Mutiara after edging out four other parties, including SP Setia Bhd,.

Ivory offered RM240 per sq ft or RM1.072bil for the entire site, the highest, , securing with it the right to develop on the existing 67.56-acre site and another 35 acres that will be reclaimed over the next three years.

Tropicana Ivory Sdn Bhd, a joint-venture company in which Dijaya Corporation Bhd holds a 55% stake, and Ivory Properties Group Bhd the remaining 45%, is the developer of the PWC project.

On the City Mall and City Residence, he says the residential components will sit above the retail outlets. It will have an open tropical style interior design featuring giant palm trees, water features with lots of natural lighting, to blend with the architectural design of the residential component,” he adds.

Source: The Star

THE RM2.1bil seafront Southbay City project in Batu Maung, Penang, is scheduled for completion in 2018.

It comprises a shopping mall of 1mil sq ft and a five-star hotel that will further boost the property value of the south-west district of the island.

The project has a 60% residential component and 40% of commercial properties, comprising six phases.

Mah Sing Group Bhd executive director Lim Kiu Hock said the second, third, and fourth phases of Southbay City would have residential and commercial towers.

“For the fifth phase, we are planning The Wharf project that will include a marina for yachts to berth, while the final phase will be either another hotel or a commercial tower.

“The group is now constructing the Southbay Plaza, the first phase of Southbay City, which comprises two residential towers erected on top of a 250,000sq ft retail podium,” Lim said.

Lim said there were also plans to develop a shopping mall for Southbay City once the second Penang bridge was completed.

“The second bridge is expected to be completed next year and upon its completion, we will start the development of the mall so that it will be in a position to attract shoppers from the northern region.

“We can then anticipate a strong flow of visitors from Seberang Prai to the island,” he said.

He spoke at the Mah Sing ‘Realising Dreams Property Showcase’ held on Saturday and Sunday at Hotel Equatorial in conjunction with the group’s 18th anniversary celebration.

The event attracted more than 3,000 people.

Lim said that Southbay City, sitting on a 33-acre high plateau land, was the only integrated seafront resort project on the island.

“Such integrated projects in the Asean region are difficult to find, especially with the pricing in Penang.

“This is the reason we have already locked in 75% or RM80mil of the sales for the launched portion of the RM329mil Southbay Plaza project.

“About 15% of the buyers for Southbay Plaza comes from Singapore.

”The project has easy access to the expressway, airport, the second bridge and the industrial park,” he said.

The value of the three-story linked property in the Residence@Southbay by Mah Sing in Batu Maung has appreciated about 15% per annum since 2009, influenced by the master plan of Southbay City as an integrated seafront resort project.

Priced at about RM800,000 per unit in 2009, a linked unit in the Residence@Southbay is now priced about RM1.2mil in the sub-sales market.

“When the second bridge is completed, the Southbay City project will definitely impact positively the property value of the south-west districts,” Lim said.

The Southbay Plaza is one of the projects at the two-day showcase.

The other project in Penang that received overwhelming enquiries, registrations and bookings at the event was the Legenda@Southbay.

“We have received about 3,000 registrations for Ferringhi Residence, which we expect to preview in July once approval is given.

The other projects displayed at the property showcase that received strong response from Penangites were the RM.14bil M City project in Jalan Ampang, about 4km from Kuala Lumpur City Centre, and the RM3.25bil Icon City project in Petaling Jaya which is an integrated development.

“For M City, we have sold all 401 units of the small home office units and 24 units of retail lots.

“It sold well because of the four acres of garden located on various floors all over the building to give the residents the feel of living in a landed property scheme,” Lim said.

Source: The Star