Boon Siew Group NOT buying land near Gurney Drive reclaimed area
The Boon Siew group is not involved in the purchase of a piece of land that the state of Penang had alienated to a private company with the mandate to undertake RM6.34bil worth of infrastructure projects.
In a statement, the Boon Siew group said one of its shareholders was approached pertaining to the purchase of land measuring 22.92 acres from Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (CZC), but no decision has been made by him in respect of his involvement in the transaction, as all matters are at a very preliminary stage.
Three days ago, StarBiz reported that the Boon Siew group had acquired the land at RM845 per square foot for RM843.64mil, a transaction that would clear some amount of uncertainty on the financing of the RM6.34bil infrastructure projects.
The infrastructure projects comprise three toll-free highways on the island and an undersea tunnel between Butterworth and Gurney Drive. Work on the first of the three highways is due to start in September this year.
However, financing has been an issue because the project is to be done on a land-swap basis. The state will alienate a total of 110 acres of reclaimed land in stages to CZC in return for the company carrying out the projects, including the feasibility study and detailed design.
The undersea tunnel project has been awarded to China Railway Construction Co and is slated to start only in 2023.
However, the job for the first of the three highways, which is a 5.7-km stretch worth RM815mil, has been awarded to the joint venture of Vertice Bhd and Vizione Holdings Bhd
The other two highways are to start next year and the year after. According to reports, the RM6.34bil project is due for ground-breaking, with the commencement of the highway project happening by the end of next month.
Source: TheStar.com.my
This is a big screw up by MBPP, for failing to control over-building. So it seems even at RM845 psf it is considered too expensive for the land in this area. Why? Because there have built too many homes, prices are coming down, so land price will have to come down too, and as a result, there wont be enough money from selling land to build roads. MBPP should control whats being built here, so that prices can remain solid, so that land price too can be solid, in order for road builders to obtain enough proceeds from selling land to build roads.
@Jean
Hello??? If properties too expensive, then average people cannot afford it lah! Its not fair then!!!
Buyer???
@cartoon
Well, you dont really need “affordable” homes in this area. State gov should develop this area as prime exclusive, while keeping bayab baru/sg. ara/batu kawan for affordable for the convenience of the factory workers. Simple.
A good example is i-santorini, there were simply not enough buyers for 300k gov-controlled units which require stricter qualification criteria, while those open-market units which cost 100k more were all snapped up fast.
Ya. This area reserved for millionaires. State gov should pay more attention to this group of people.
Malaysia’s economy is going downhill since May last year. I cannot blame Boon Siew for being cautious.
@Brian
I think state gov should pay attention to everyone, not just the rich. Build more affordable homes in areas which need them, more upscale homes in areas which need them. Reclaim industrial land in the south, that makes sense, as thats where MNCs like to locate their factories.
The whole socio-economic model must sync with the states long term objective in order to make everyone happy, no matter which social strata one belongs to.