Ikano Private Limited, owner of the IKEA franchise in Malaysia, confirmed today its ambition to open a store in Penang during the third quarter of 2018.

Ikano and the Aspen Group teamed up in September 2014 to purchase 245 acres of land from Penang Development Corporation. The joint-venture company is working to transform the vast swath of land in Batu Kawan into a new metropolis where people can live, work and play. A shopping centre anchored by IKEA is a key component of the development plan for Aspen Vision City.

“The IKEA vision is to create a better everyday life for the many people,” said Ikano’s Managing Director, Christian Rojkjaer. “We expect to do that by bringing our affordable range of functional home furnishings to the people of Northern Malaysia in 2018, along with hundreds of solid jobs and spin-off opportunities for the local community.”

The planned IKEA store is to be wholly owned by Ikano. Mr. Rojkjaer said his team has applied for a building permit and earthworks are now underway to prepare a 24-acre plot for the development. The shopping centre is to be developed by the joint venture company and managed by Ikano.

The long-term development plan for Aspen Vision City includes condominiums, office towers, an international school, a Columbia Asia Hospital and a 24-acre park. Piling works are in full swing for the first phase – a gated and guarded commercial precinct called Vervéa. Plans for a high-rise condo called Vertu Resort received a warm response when it was recently introduced to the public. With a gross development value of RM8 billion, the entire Aspen Vision City development is slated for completion in 10 years’ time.

Eco Bloom, an on-going mixed development by EcoWorld in mainland Penang, comprises condominium and commercial shop lots. It’s part of the company’s maiden project – Eco Meadows – on a 75.7-arce land in Simpang Ampat.

Offering 490 residential units in two 33-storey condominium towers with size ranging from 800 sq.ft. onward.

Project Name : Eco Bloom @ Eco Meadows
Location : Simpang Ampat, Penang
Property Type : Mixed development
Built-up Area: 800 sq.ft. – 1,100 sq.ft.
Total Units: 490 (residential)
Land Tenure: Freehold
Indicative Price : RM388,000 onwards
Developer : EcoWorld
Contact No: : 04-510 2255
Location Map:

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