The project delivery partner for the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP), SRS Consortium, will have to prepare and present the financial architecture plan for the PTMP to the Penang government within a month.

Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the financial architecture plan would enable the state government to view the cost and cash flow of the PTMP projects.

The three main components of the PTMP are the Bayan Lepas Light Rail Transit (BL LRT), the Pan Island Link (PIL1 and PIL2A) highways, and the Penang South Reclamation (PSR) project. It was reported that the estimated cost of the PTMP projects was RM46 billion.

Chow said the consortium was responsible to come up with RM1.3 billion in bridging finance while the state would have to provide RM1 billion.

“We will study the financial architecture plan before we make a decision. Let us not jump the gun,” Chow told a press conference after signing the project delivery partner master agreement for the PTMP at St Giles The Wembley Hotel in Magazine Road today.

Chow delivering his speech before the signing ceremony.

The master agreement was signed by Chow and Gamuda Berhad managing director Datuk Lin Yun Ling. It was witnessed by Penang State Secretary Datuk Abdul Razak Jaafar and SRS Consortium project director Szeto Wai Loong.

The SRS Consortium is a joint venture among Gamuda Berhad, Loh Phoy Yen Holdings Sdn Bhd and Ideal Property Development Sdn Bhd.

Among those who were present at the signing ceremony were Deputy Chief Minister I Datuk Ahmad Zakiyuddin Abdul Rahman, Deputy Chief Minister II Prof Dr P. Ramasamy, state executive council members and state assemblymen.

Chow said that the Penang government did not proceed with the advice given by the then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who proposed to the Penang government to set up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the issuance of bonds to be guaranteed by the Federal Government.

The advice was given after the Penang government had applied for a RM10 billion Federal funding for the proposed BL LRT project.

“We did not apply for any bond. It was premature at that time.

“Until now, the ‘advice’ has not been withdrawn,” Chow said.

Referring to the proposed PSR project, Chow said the project had captured the interest of industrial players.

“Many industrial players are expressing their interest in ‘Island A’ of the PSR project.

“In view of the current world economic situation and the trade war between China and the United States, industry players and investors are looking beyond China.

“The interest in Penang is very strong,” Chow said.

The PSR is a reclamation project that aims at creating islands totalling about 4,500 acres, off the southern coast of the Penang island.

Chow, in his speech, said that the PTMP projects are viewed as the state’s economic transformation projects for the next 50 years.

“The PSR project will enable the state government to provide quality affordable homes that are connected to an efficient transportation network.

“The entire PTMP is aimed at increasing the public transport ridership in Penang to 40%. The public transport ridership in the state is now at 8%,” he said.

Source: Buletin Mutiara

File Picture (for illustration only)

Ewein Bhd is terminating a joint venture agreement with Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (CZC), under which the partners had initially agreed to jointly undertake the development of The City of Dreams 2 — a luxury condominium project — on a plot of land in Penang.

The group first announced the agreement on Dec 2, 2019, when it said its subsidiary Ewein Zenith II Sdn Bhd (EZII) will pay RM159.75 million to CZC for the land, while CZC shall procure approval from the Penang government to alienate the plot to EZII as the registered owner.

The alienation was to be part of the consideration for construction works on major roads and a tunnel to be undertaken by CZC, Ewein said then.

The transaction would have been a related party transaction as EZII is wholly-owned by Ewein Zenith Sdn Bhd; CZC holds an 11% stake in Ewein Zenith, while the remainder 89% is held by Ewein’s wholly-owned Ewein Land Sdn Bhd.

The land measures about 4.34 acres (1.76ha) and is located along Gurney Drive in George Town. The City Of Dreams 2 would have been the second joint venture project between Ewein and CZC. The two parties had earlier jointly developed the first City of Dreams, a now completed luxury seafront property development, with a gross development value of RM800 million.

In a filing this evening, Ewein said it had issued a notice of termination to CZC to inform it that EZII no longer intends to proceed with the agreement.

This is because Ewein has yet to obtain approval from its shareholders in an extraordinary general meeting which should have been convened three months from the agreement with an extension of one month, which was due on March 31, 2020.

“Pursuant to this termination, CZC shall refund EZII all monies which EZII has paid in accordance with the agreement within sixty business days from the date of the notice,” it said.

Ewein shares closed unchanged at 32 sen today, giving it a market capitalisation of RM92.06 million.

Source: EdgeProp.my

Ivory Properties Group Bhd has acquired two pieces of adjoining land in Penang, for RM142.79 million where it aims to develop commercial space and service apartments.

The Penang-headquartered property developer said the 19,800-sq-metre freehold land was located strategically in the established neighbourhood of Bayan Lepas directly opposite Queensbay Mall, the largest shopping mall in the state.

“The proposed acquisition presents an opportunity for the Ivory group to scale up its development in the said vicinity and complement its existing development projects,” it said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday.

Ivory Properties said its board was optimistic about the demand for the products to be developed on the land given the strategic location.

It said the land was zoned largely for commercial use and was currently used as car park space under tenancy.

The proposed acquisitions are expected to be funded by a combination of internally generated funds and external borrowings.

“Based on preliminary discussions, the indicative funding from internally generated funds is 30 per cent while indicative funding from borrowings is 70 per cent,” the company said.

Source: EdgeProp.my

Even before the proposed RM100mil Penang Hill cable car project has yet to lift off after running into funding problems, another similar idea has been mooted.

This time, it’s a RM300mil cable car project from Penang Hill to Teluk Bahang.

Foreign investors are forming a consortium to propose the 6km cable car project to be built by China, one of the largest builders of cable cars in the world.

“The project is expected to cost in excess of RM300mil, ” said Sim Leisure Group Ltd chief executive officer Sim Choo Kheng.

He said such an attraction might mean new international appeal for the Teluk Bahang and Batu Ferringhi tourism belt.

“Let’s face it. Our tourism belt is losing out to places like Bali and Phuket.

“What else are we going to sell? More horse rides on the beach and water scooter trips? We are not being fast enough. We need a new element, ” he said, adding that there “will be no theme park plan”.

Sim Leisure Group, which is publicly listed in Singapore, owns the Escape theme park in Teluk Bahang and is one of the foreign investors in the consortium.

Sim said his company had been discussing the project with the state since 2015 and was prepared to set aside a few acres of land it controls in Teluk Bahang for the lower station of the cable car line.

“The hill can thrive as an attraction without the burden of needing more infrastructure. We are against more development on the hill. We want Penang Hill to remain as a flower garden.

“Visitors can enjoy the hill and return to their hotels in Teluk Bahang and Batu Ferringhi – even at 1am or 2am – by cable car, ” he said.

The proposed cable car line will be 6km, with one middle station and about 20 pylons, while the maintenance road below will be 10km.

“The road is longer because we will have to snake around trees. Cable car lines around the world today are built while carefully preserving the forest floor.

“The footprints of pylons will be unbelievably small because we know people want the sense of riding through the air over untouched forests. That is the selling point of any cable car ride, ” he said.

Built with interlocking paving so that the 10km road will follow the shape of the terrain, Sim said the plan was to make this publicly accessible to hikers free of charge.

He said his team was aware of non-governmental organisations’ (NGOs) concerns and was prepared to be fully transparent with the construction plan.

“We are on the same page as the NGOs. We transformed a brown field in Teluk Bahang and made it green as the present-day Escape, ” he said.

Many developers have tabled lofty plans for Penang Hill in the past.

In 1990, a developer proposed a cable car for the hill, a water world, a Disneyland-type theme park, a five-star hotel, 350 condominium units, a shopping centre, “summit acropolis” and a 103ha hillside golf course.

It was shelved after a huge public outcry.

In 1992, the state government announced plans to build a cable car line to the hill from Teluk Bahang but it never left the drawing board.

The Federal Government approved the Teluk Bahang-Penang Hill cable car plan in 1999 but this was drowned by debate among the government, NGOs and Opposition lawmakers until 2009.

In 2013, the state government revived studies for a cable car line to the hill with the backing of the then Tourism and Culture Ministry.

Proposed sites for the lower station include Penang City Park, a site near Penang Botanic Gardens and Teluk Bahang.

Last year, then finance minister Lim Guan Eng approved a RM100mil allocation for a cable car from Botanic Gardens to Penang Hill but the allocation was cancelled recently.

When contacted, state Tourism Development Committee chairman Yeoh Soon Hin said the state exco was aware of the foreign investors’ proposal of the Teluk Bahang-Penang Hill cable car line and would look into it.

Source: TheStar.com.my

Housing developers and homebuyers of projects affected by the enforcement of the movement control order (MCO) cannot take legal action against one another if the Temporary Measures Bill to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 is passed by Parliament.

Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin (pictured) said the bill is expected to be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat in the middle of next month.

“Many housing projects were disrupted and had to be stopped until they could not be completed in the stipulated time. As they occurred due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we cannot blame any party, including the developers and homebuyers.

“When we draft the bill, there will be a clause where both parties (developers and buyers) cannot sue one another. We will be making new terms,” she told reporters after visiting the Kamunting Fire and Rescue Station here yesterday.

To date, she said 700 to 800 applications had been received from developers to extend their completion periods, which had been interrupted for three months due to the MCO.

“Buyers must also accept the fact that they cannot make any claim based on the original agreement,” she said.

Source: EdgeProp.my