THE Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway in Penang is finally set to have three lanes on both sides of its entire stretch.

A bottleneck near the Batu Uban marine police base which reduces the three lanes (on each side) to two is undergoing a road-widening project that began this month.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the RM3.7mil project was undertaken as a corporate social responsibility initiative by IJM Corporation Berhad.

“This expansion and upgrade essentially resolves a 10-year-old problem of a 2km traffic jam caused by the road narrowing from three to two lanes.

“By widening a 400m stretch on each bound, the state hopes to reduce this traffic congestion problem that has haunted motorists, especially the industrialists and workers at (the Free Industrial Zone in) Bayan Lepas,” he said.

He was speaking during a symbolic ground breaking of the project yesterday.

Lim added that the project was announced in August last year, but plans at that time included only the widening of one side of the road which was not satisfactory to the state.

“We felt both sides should have three lanes each and went back to the drawing board.”

IJM Land general manager (northern region) Toh Chin Leong said the upgraded project would also include the rebuilding of an overhead pedestrian bridge along the 400m stretch and the building of a U-turn at Persimpangan Bertingkat Gelugor.

“The existing pedestrian bridge will be demolished and a new one with a higher clearance of 5.4m will be built.”

On the new U-turn, he said a new acceleration/deceleration lane would be built to ensure road users could make the turn safely.

“With this U-turn, motorists from George Town who are heading in the direction of Bayan Lepas will no longer need to drive all the way to the Bayan Mutiara Interchange or use the narrow Jalan Hajjah Rehmah in Jelutong.

“This will save motorists about 3.5km each way if they are headed to places like Tesco, E-Gate and Green Lane,” he said.

Toh said preparation works had already begun on the project and construction would kick into high gear after the Chinese New Year, adding that the whole project was targeted for completion by Sept 1.

Free Industrial Zone Penang Companies’ Association (Frepenca) president Horst Rosenmueller, who was also present, lauded the project, saying that it would benefit thousands of people working in Bayan Lepas.

“There are many workers travelling daily from the island to the mainland and back so it’s very important to open up this bottleneck.

“I am happy because it (the traffic congestion) was a pain for our employees in the FIZ who are stuck in jams every morning and evening,” he said.

Source: The Star

Callisia 2, a residential development located within Bandar Cassia township in Batu Kawan, Penang. It comprises 246 units of double storey terrace houses with built up area ranging from 2,016 sq.ft. onwards. This is a relatively new township but it is expected to benefit from the completion second Penang bridge by end of 2013.

Property Project : Callisia 2
Location : Bandar Cassia, Batu Kawan, Penang
Property Type : 2-Storey Terrace
Built-up Area: 2,016 sq.ft. ownards
Land Area: 1,474 sq.ft. (22′ x 67′) onwards
Tenure : Leasehold
Indicative Price: RM350,000 onwards
Total Units: 246
Developer : Global Oriental Berhad

THE timing of property developer SP Setia Bhd's new launches for its 2012 fiscal year in Penang appears to hinge on whether the company is given vacant possession of the Penang International Sports Arena (Pisa) by the first quarter of this year to build the RM300 million Subterranean Penang International Convention and Exhibition (sPICE) Centre.

Business Times has learnt that the property giant's application for planning approval to proceed with its upmarket Setia V Residences project along Gurney Drive cannot be deliberated as yet by the Penang Island Municipal Council, until the time SP Setia takes over Pisa officially.

Three other projects in the pipeline for its fiscal year ending October 31 2012 are located in the Relau and Sungai Ara areas.

The company on January 3 took over as operator of the building and it has already ploughed in RM1 million to spruce it up, sources say.

"The problem now lies in the fact that SP Setia is unable to avail itself yet of the increased density privilege it was accorded as part of the sPICE deal," one source said.

SP Setia was granted the right to build an additional 1,500 residential units over and above the density limit of its existing and future projects in Penang over a 30-year period when it inked an agreement with the Penang authorities last year to build the convention centre.

The project includes 2.8ha public park and an upgraded and refurbished Pisa.

The move for SP Setia to be granted additional density was viewed positively by analysts who noted that it would enhance the gross development value of some of the company's proposed high-rise projects.

Based on the existing density limit, it is learnt, Setia V Residences can only build about 50 units on the 0.8ha site, which has a dual frontage of the sea-fronting Gurney Drive and Jalan Kelawai in Pulau Tikus.

Analysts had also hailed the fact that with the additional density, SP Setia would now have a competitive edge over other developers in bidding for land in Penang, since it would be in a position to pay higher land costs, given the company's ability to build beyond the "normal" allowed density.

SP Setia officials could not be reached for comment.

Under the agreement signed in August last year between Penang island Municipal Council and SP Setia's subsidiary, Eco Meridian, the proposed sPICE Centre will feature a basement car park and a green park on the roof top. The project, which is expected to be completed by 2014, includes a 2.8ha public park, refurbishing, repairing and upgrading Pisa and the Aquatic Centre as well as construction of a new hotel, retail outlets and a car park.

SOURCE: Business Times

Carnation Villa, a gated & guarded community housing scheme strategically located within fast growing Bukit Minyak/Juru township and just a few minutes walk to Carrefour Bukit Minyak. It has good accessibility to North-South Expressway, via Juru interchange which is only few kilometers away, and mere minutes drive to Penang bridge.

This development comprises 88 units of 2-storey terrace, 54 units of 3-storey semi-detached houses and 16 units of 2-storey shop offices.

Property Project : Carnation Villa
Location : Bukit Minyak, Penang
Property Type : 2-Storey Terrace, 3-Storey Semi-detached & 2-Storey Shop Offices
Tenure : Freehold
Land Area: 22′ x 72′ (Terrace), 36′ x 80′ (Semi-D)
Total Units : 158
Indicative Price  (Terrace) : RM 408,000 onwards (Terrace)
Indicative Price (Semi-D) : RM 636,000 onwards (Semi-D). Additional RM 110,000 for optional lift installation.
Developer : Oriental Max Group
Contact No.: 04-356 5860

Location Map

Contributed by reader (Update 25/9/13)

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Contributed by reader (Update 03/11/13)

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KUALA LUMPUR: A majority of developers expect property prices to continue climbing in the first half of the year in tandem with rising costs.

In a recent survey of members by the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association Malaysia (Rehda), about 74% of respondents surveyed generally felt that prices would be on an upward trend, largely influenced by an increase in the cost of development.

Rehda president Datuk Seri Michael Yam said about 36% of the respondents said property prices might increase 10% to 20%, 31% expected prices to increase less than 10%, and 7% expected prices to increase more than 20%.

“The main reason cited was the escalation in land, building materials and labour costs. For example, steel bar price had climbed to RM2,589 per tonne in 2011 from RM2,285 in 2010, while cement had gone up to RM16.33 per bag in 2011 from RM15.64 in 2010,” he told a briefing yesterday on the Rehda Property Industry Survey for the second half of last year.

Two other main factors were the larger deposits required in obtaining housing development licences and the higher market demand.

The deposit for a housing development licence is now 3% of the estimated project cost instead of RM200,000 previously. The survey covered 148 companies or 15% of Rehda’s 979 members, and they were selected from all the states in Peninsular Malaysia.

Yam said 63% of the respondents indicated that they planned to launch projects in the first half of this year. In comparison, 45% had launches in the second half of 2011.

“The top property types to be launched in the first half of this year are two-storey terrace houses, apartments and condominiums as well as service apartments,” he added.

The survey also reported that better sales were expected in the first half of this year compared with the preceding six months. About 67% of the respondents with planned launches in the period under review anticipated to sell 41% of their properties and above. Yam pointed out that this was despite the drop in confidence largely influenced by external factors. “Some of the external factors are the eurozone sovereign debt crisis, fragile US economy and volatility in commodity prices.

“Nevertheless, the Malaysian market is still buoyed by its relatively strong economy, low non-performing loans for the property sector and the Government Transformation Programme and the Economic Transformation Programme (GTP/ETP),” he said.

On challenges for the industry, Yam said the unsold designated bumiputera lots had been the main reason for unsold units recorded in the last four surveys, which were conducted every six months.

“The way forward in solving this is to have a policy for automatic release of designated bumiputera lots. This will enable such ideal units to be put in the open market instead of them remaining unproductive.”

“Additionally, more than half of the respondents believed that the real property gains tax would have an impact on the overall property market.

“Other than that, 48% of respondents reported that they faced financing issues but mainly in the end-financing for buyers due to buyers’ creditworthiness as well as due to banks being more stringent in their lending policies,” he said.

Rehda Federal Territory branch chairman NK Tong said the 45% of respondents that reported launches in second half of 2011 represented a slight drop from the 58% in the first half of 2011.

“The average size per project launch has also declined to 145 units from 160 units for the period under review,” he said.

“Sales were encouraging for the period as more than half of respondents who had launches sold more than 40% of their launched units,” he said, adding that the majority of the units launched were landed properties, but Kuala Lumpur and Penang were more focused on strata-title properties.

Rehda announced that the first Malaysia Property Exposition for 2012 would be held from March 2 to 4 and would feature some foreign developers.

SOURCE: The Star