The proposed cable car spanning the Penang channel will cross the Middle Bank and engineers are working to ensure least damage to the seagrass bed.

“The footprints of the cable pylons and towers will be small and have a low impact on the environment,” said Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

He said engineers would avoid disturbing areas of the seagrass bed where marine life is densest, adding that he was waiting for the final alignment proposal from Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad which is constructing the cable car system.

He also said the expected completion date would be between 2018 and 2019.

Lim broke his silence on several issues about future transportation plans in the state at a press conference after officiating the NEX2016 Penang Leadership Conference in Olive Tree Hotel in Bayan Lepas yesterday.

Earlier, in addressing the congregation of about 380 corporate and government executives attending the three-day conference from as far as Singapore, Hong Kong and Britain, Lim filled his speech with visions of Penang’s future transportation plans.

“The light rail transit between the mainland and the island is only expected in 2025. In the meantime, we can look forward to the Penang Sky Cab as an alternative connection,” he said.

The cable car system will be between mainland Penang Sentral near the ferry terminal and the current Jelutong landfill which is due for redevelopment.

Lim also said there was never any plan to acquire land from Penang Chinese Girls High School to build the 20km Gurney Drive-Bayan Lepas highway that is part of the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP).

“I chair the state land acquisition committee, and we never even considered acquiring the school land. I don’t know how the scare came about. As usual, many quarters are out to shoot down the government.

“If you want to shoot us, go ahead. We are used to it. But don’t shoot the PTMP down because it is vital to Penang’s future,” he added.

To a question on how the state would deal with eventual land acquisition needs for the PTMP, Lim said the government would need to make some “tough decisions” soon.

“We will practise compassion and plan the alignments of the new roads and rail lines so that we won’t need much private property.”

Source: TheStar.com.my

A proposed mixed development scheme on a 5-acre land along Swatow Lane in George Town. The site is currently occupied by New World Park, a famous food court with more than 30 food operators and retailers.

The proposed development will see the demolition of New Work Park for the following project:

• One block of 22-storey hotel (260 rooms)
• Two blocks of 48-storey residential towers (436 units)
• Food and beverage facility for food operators.

This project is still pending for approval. Details to be available upon project launch.

Project Name : (to be confirmed)
Location : Georgetown, Penang
Property Type : Mixed development
Built-up Area: (to be confirmed)
Total Units: 436 (residential)
Developer : PPB Hartabina Sdn. Bhd. (PPB Group)

Location Map:

The Real Estate and Housing Developers Association (Rehda) is in discussion with the Government to bring back the developers interest bearing scheme (DIBS) in a certain form for first-time house buyers of a certain price, Datuk Soam Heng Choon said at a property forum.

Soam, who is also IJM Corp Bhd CEO and managing director, told participants this while moderating a forum session at the Rehda Property Forum 2016 yesterday.

“We are engaging with the Government on this,” he said.

The scheme, which allows a house buyer to pay a downpayment of between 5% and 10%, and the rest on completion of the property was banned on Jan 1, 2014 because it was deemed to encourage speculation.

It was the first cooling measure to be banned in Singapore in its fight against rising house prices.

While the removal of the scheme and macro-prudential measures weeded out speculation, it came at the expense of plummeting sales.

Earlier, Rehda president Datuk Seri FD Iskandar said a survey conducted among 159 developers in 12 states in the second half of 2015 showed that properties between RM250,000 and RM700,000 had the highest loan rejection rate.

He said 67% respondents believe end-financing was the culprit for unsold units.

He said unsold stock would rise and will also affect affordable housing. “Loan rejections rate is more than 50%,” he said.

Unsold units for the first half of 2015 was manageable with 68% of respondents having up to 30% of unsold units. Residential sales rose by a fifth in the second half compared with the first six months, although launches slowed.

Respondents with unsold units mainly in Selangor, Johor and Pahang decreased from 78% in the first half to 62% in the second half of 2015. Respondents were also pessimistic about the first half of 2016.

Soam said stringent lending conditions will come at the cost of high home ownership. Although Malaysia has a high household debt against gross domestic product of close to 90%, the highest in South-East Asia, on closer scrutiny, only 50% of this debt were mortgage-related while in Singapore and the US, mortgage debt make up 74% of their household debts. There is therefore room for mortgage debt to go up.

“Curtail unproductive loans,” he said.

Two of the forum panel speakers Maybank Malaysia head of community financial services Hamirullah Boorhan and Khazanah Research Institute managing director Datuk Charon Wardini, however, said home ownership should not be achieved at the expense of high household debt.

Instead, one of the ways, Charon said, was to modernise and cut house prices by building housing cheaper and faster using Industrial Building Systems (IBS), a housing construction technique used by the Chinese and a company in the Philippines.

“If Philippines can do it, why can’t we?” he asked.Charon also said social housing – or affordable housing – at RM500,000 were “not affordable to many.”

“It should (be capped) at RM300,000,” he said. Charon said in order to put the housing sector into its proper perspective of demand and supply, what is needed is a national housing survey.

“You cannot talk about the Malaysian housing market per se but you can talk about the Kuala Lumpur housing market, or the Johor or Penang market,” Charon said.

It has to be very location-based because the median household in Kuala Lumpur is much higher comparative to some locations outside the Klang Valley, he said.

Source: TheStar.com.my

Iconic Vue, an affordable housing by Iconic Land Sdn. Bhd. at Batu Ferringhi, Penang. Strategically located along Lorong Sungai Emas, only about five minutes walking distance from Golden Sand Resort. It is surrounded by many local amenities such as schools, petrol stations, police stations & F&B outlets,

This development comprises a 26-storey condominium with 232 affordable units. Since this is a fully affordable housing project, selling price is expected to be less than RM400,000.

READ MORE ABOUT AFFORDABLE HOUSING:

• Eligibility and the requirement of buying affordable housing
• Full list of affordable housing in Penang

Property Project : Iconic Vue
Location : Batu Ferringhi, Penang
Property Type : Affordable housing
Total Units : 232
Land Tenure: Freehold
Indicative Price: RM400,000 and below
Developer : Iconic Land Sdn. Bhd.

Location Map:

Progress Update (June 2018)

The RM6.3 billion Penang mega project to build three xpressways and an undersea tunnel linking Penang island to the mainland will kick off in June, with the construction of the Air Itam-Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway bypass.

Consortium Zenith BUCG Sdn Bhd (CZBUCG) chairman Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli said starting mid-way (of the Air Itam-Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu bypass) would be the paired-road from Jalan Tanjung Bungah to Teluk Bahang.

Zarul said construction of the third road from Gurney Drive to Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu would commence after the first two are completed.

He said the road construction from Gurney Drive to Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu is a standalone project and would start later due to the more complex work to be undertaken.

The three roads have a combined length of 21.2km and will cost more than RM2 billion. The amount includes RM500 million that would be reimbursed to the government for land acquisition cost, Zarul said in an interview, here, recently.

CZBUCG is the main contractor for the RM6.3 billion project, which consists of the three roads and a 7.2km undersea tunnel linking Penang island to the mainland.

The company was awarded the project in October 2013. For building the roads and the tunnel, the state government will compensate CZBUCG with 44.5ha of freehold reclaimed land in Tanjung Pinang. CZBUCG is 98.1 per cent owned by Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd. The rest of the company is owned by Juteras Sdn Bhd (1.89 per cent) and Beijing Urban Construction Group Co Ltd (0.01 per cent).

“The Penang mega project is a key impetus to push growth. There will be job creation and business opportunities as well as boom of construction-related industries. This will be the biggest development in Malaysia this year. Under the current economic situation, infrastructure projects such as this, combining three roads and an undersea tunnel, would help spur the economy,” said Zarul.

He said the first road project would start on June 15, subject to CZBUCG getting environmental impact assessment approval, the land to acquire, and the private participation to enable the consortium to start the road building.

“We will face a lot of challenges when building the Air Itam-Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu bypass road. We will ensure as little disruption as possible. That is why we won’t construct all three roads simultaneously. We don’t want Penang to become a construction site,” said Zarul.

On the undersea tunnel, he said construction is expected to commence either in 2020 or 2021. CZBUCG’s partner for the undersea tunnel is Beijing-based China Railway Construction Corp Ltd (CRCC).

“We are confident of finishing the tunneling job without hiccups. CRCC has done thousands of kilometres of underwater tunnels, so 7.2km is a walk in the park for them,” said Zarul.

The Chinese firm has built much of the transportation infrastructure in China, including high speed rail, subways and expressways.

Source: NST Online