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

The ministry of environment and water will give the Penang state government a chance to fulfill all 72 requirements needed to implement the Penang South Islands project despite objections from several quarters.

Deputy Environment and Water Minister Ahmad Masrizal Muhammad said the Penang state government must comply with all the conditions and stipulations set out in the Environmental Impact Assessment report before it could proceed with the project.

“Let us give a chance to the state (government) to fulfill all the requirements first and see how it goes. As long as it is able to meet the requirements, there is nothing for the state (government) to be afraid of. That should be the way,” he said today.

“We have to be fair to all parties, to whichever state government, as this is a democratic state,” he said.

Penang South Islands project

The project has met objections from civil society and environmental groups, as well as the fishing communities. The latest objection was from Penang PAS who recently handed over a memorandum to environment minister Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, who is PAS deputy president.

“For PAS, there is nothing wrong with the party submitting a memorandum of protest following their concern for the people and the environment, this will also create a form of check and balance,” Ahmad Masrizal said.

Penang PAS urged the ministry to cancel the project over concerns of permanent environmental damage as well as its effects on the livelihood of fishermen in Penang and Perak.

Ahmad Masrizal said the ministry was also open to holding discussions between PAS and the Penang state government to clarify the issues and procedures surrounding the project.

“As I said, the ministry is trying to give the Penang state government space and opportunity to meet all of the conditions set out previously, and then we shall see if they have complied with it before taking further action,” he said.

He added that the controversy over the reclamation project for the construction of three artificial islands in southern Penang was not new.

“The only aspect in which the ministry was involved directly in the project was in the context of approving the EIA report. However, there may be some confusion. When we talk about the approval, it should be seen in the context of also fulfilling all 72 requirements,” he said.

The 17-square kilometer PSI project involves the development of three artificial islands of about 1,700-acres at waters off Permatang Damar Laut, near Bayan Lepas.

It is being developed to finance various infrastructure projects under the Penang Transport Master Plan worth RM46 billion.

Source: FreeMalaysiaToday.com