Gamuda Bhd has been appointed as the Project Delivery Partner (PDP) to oversee and realise certain key components in the RM27bil Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP).

Sources told StarBiz that the group has recently received the letter of award from the state government following a state executive councillor meeting, which endorsed the appointment.

On Aug 12, State Local Government, Traffic Management, and Flood Mitigation Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow announced that a PDP had been appointed and the company was given two weeks to accept or decline the appointment.

It is learnt that Gamuda has formed a company with two local firms to implement the PTMP project.

The company will undertake the RM5.3bil LRT project and a RM4.5bil 20km pan-island linked expressway linking Bayan Lepas and Tanjung Bungah, which are among the key components of the PTMP first phase.

The other schemes in the first phase that Gamuda will implement include a RM100mil tram and catamaran system, and a RM100mil highway interchange upgrading project. Although Gamuda has received the award letter, the company still has to obtain a LRT license from the federal government to implement the project in Penang.

This LRT permit will take about nine months to one year to obtain.

“Gamuda is now in the process of appointing local contractors to undertake soil and alignment studies for the LRT project,” the sources said.

According to sources, the old Prangin market, popularly known as Sia Boey (Town’s End), has been designated by the state government as the site for the central LRT station.

From Sia Boey, the initial plan is to have a 17.5km LRT line running from inner George Town to Bayan Lepas.

There will be two additional lines, running from Sia Boey to Tanjung Tokong via Kelawei Road, and to Paya Terubong via Datuk Keramat and Air Itam.

In an interview last year, Chow said the LRT line – which will be supported by a revamped stage bus system and trams – would be a priority, with completion targeted for five to six years.

In an interview a year ago, Chow said the PDP would also have to oversee the other infrastructure (RM16bil) and public transport (RM9bil) projects in the PTMP.

The institutional costs is estimated to be RM905mil, and Penang would have to foot about RM10bil of the total RM27bil cost, Chow said.

“The RM10bil allocation from the state does not include the RM6.3bil for the undersea tunnel and three expressway projects,” he said.

The 6.5km road tunnel is planned to run from Gurney Drive to Bagan Ajam in Butterworth.

The expressways include a 4.2km bypass from Persiaran Gurney to Persiaran Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu, a 4.6km expressway and by-pass from Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway to Bandar Baru Air Itam and a four-lane 12km road linking Tanjung Bungah with Teluk Bahang.

Chow said some of the projects would fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government.

Source: TheStar.com.my

Driving time from Air Itam to Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway is expected to be slashed by half by 2018 with a new 5.7km bypass.

About 70% of the dual carriageway will be elevated and the link provides for 70km/h speed limit.

It will begin in Jalan Kampung Pisang, between Air Itam and Bandar Baru Air Itam, and connect with the expressway in Gelugor.

Construction should begin in the first quarter next year, said Consortium Zenith BUCG chairman Datuk Zarul Ahmad Zulkifli.

Zarul said this road would have three interchanges allowing motorists to get on and off from Jalan Thean Teik, Jalan Yeap Chor Ee and Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah.

This road is one of three that the consortium is building before it completes the undersea tunnel between the island and north Butterworth by 2025.

“We are building the Air Itam bypass first because the current traffic flow shows an urgent need for the road,” Zarul said.

The consortium had initially planned to start with the paired road from Teluk Bahang to Tanjung Bungah.

“We will start on the Teluk Bahang road after we are roughly halfway through building the Air Itam bypass.

“The third road, from Gurney Drive near Pangkor Road to the expressway, will be the final one before we start with the undersea tunnel,” Zarul said after signing a memorandum of understanding with Ewein Zenith Sdn Bhd managing director Datuk S. K. Ewe yesterday.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng witnessed the signing.

Ewein Zenith will develop the 50-acre Wellness City of Dreams between Bandar Tanjung Pinang and Gurney Drive.

It will contain a wellness mall, business and specialists centre, resort and hotel and provideservices such as anti-aging, aesthetics and comprehensive regenerative treatments.

The land was awarded by the state government and Ewein Zenith is developing it to finance the three roads costing RM2.8bil and the tunnel.

Ewe described the project as “killing three birds with one stone”.

“We will have a wellness resort to enhance medical tourism, three efficient roads to ease island traffic and a tunnel to north Butterworth to bring new development there,” he said.

Source: TheStar.com.my

Jagdeep: It’s okay if they have incomes that exceed our limits but they must be purchasing their first homes

The state government is thinking of allowing developers to sell a certain percentage of affordable units priced between RM200,000 and RM400,000 to buyers who do not meet the financial requirements.

Penang Housing, Town, & Country Planning Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo said these buyers were not eligible to be on their list but they had to be first-time buyers.

“It is okay if they have incomes that exceed our limits but they must be purchasing their first homes.

“We may allow the developers to sell about 30% of the affordable units to buyers not on our list,” he said at a press conference on the Malaysian Secondary Property Exhibition (Maspex) 2015 which will be held from today to Sunday at Queensbay Mall.

According to the present guidelines for buying an affordable home in Penang, the applicant needs to be a voter and worker in Penang.

For affordable property on the island, the net salary of a buyer must not exceed RM6,000 for a RM200,000 unit, RM8,000 for for a RM300,000 unit and RM10,000 for a RM400,000 unit.

In Seberang Prai, the net income must not exceed RM6,000 for a RM150,000 unit, RM8,000 for a RM200,000 unit and RM10,000 for a RM250,000 unit.

* List of affordable housing in Penang *

“We are also considering a 10-year waiting period before allowing buyers outside the list to sell their affordable homes.

“Another condition we want to impose is to have the developer selling to buyers outside the list to surrender an affordable unit to us for every 10 units they build,” he said.

Jagdeep said the state government was also exploring the idea of introducing a new range of affordable property priced between RM120,000 and RM150,000 for those earning a net income between RM3,500 and RM6,000 per month.

“This is because the rejection rate for the current affordable units is still high.

“A total of 3,948 eligible applicants have applied for housing loans so far this year but about 30% were rejected,” he said.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents (Penang Branch) chairman Mark Saw said that there would be more than 3,500 secondary homes priced between RM350,000 and RM2mil on display at the Maspex exhibition.

“Penang’s property market saw a slight drop in the last quarter and the market has been moving downwards since..

“There are still some good buys in the secondary market where prices are gene- rally lower by 15% to 20% compared to the primary market,” Saw said.

Source: TheStar.com.my

The Penang government will consider introducing additional affordable housing categories into the property market.

State housing committee chairman Jagdeep Singh said these units will be priced at between RM120,000 and RM150,000 because purchasers were finding it difficult to secure loans for affordable housing units currently priced between RM200,000 and RM400,000.

* List of affordable housing in Penang *

He said the rejection rate for loans is currently about 30% and urged financial institutions to relax the conditions of home loans for first-time purchasers.

He said making it difficult to secure financing for homes affected not only people in Penang but the entire country.

“It is time for banks to perform some corporate social responsibility initiatives,” he told a press conference today.

Earlier, Jagdeep said the third edition of the Malaysian Secondary Property Exhibition (Maspex) will be held at Queensbay Mall beginning Thursday. It will showcase more than 3,500 properties on the secondary market, with prices ranging from RM350,000 to RM2 million.

Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents Penang branch chairman Mark Saw said there are good buys in the secondary market.

“Prices are generally lower by some 15% to 20% compared to the primary market,” he said.

Source: TheSunDaily.my

Property developers are still faced with operational issues that come with the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), after the consumption tax came into force four months ago.

In a forum to address this issues at the recently concluded Fiabci-Penang International Roundtable Property Conference 2015, Ernst & Young Tax Consultants Sdn Bhd Partner Yeoh Cheng Guan said property developers are faced with several operational issues concerning GST.

“One such issue is registration of GST with the Royal Malaysian Customs. Property developers tend to register new companies for any development to be undertaken, and usually these companies do not have any income, but when you register with Customs, you need to be able to highlight that there is taxable turnover for the company within the next 12 months,” said Yeoh.

He added that the issue arises owing to the nature of the property development business, where there is a long gestation period from the time of development to the point of sale, or when cash is received.

“Twelve months is a short period of time for property developers [to be able to justify their income projections],” he explained.

Meanwhile, property developers who have problems in registering for GST, or did not register at all would lose out on input tax credits.

“For developers of commercial developments, all input tax credits, which is the GST that was charged by suppliers, all these costs are claimable. However, the catch is if you are not registered with customs, you will not be able to claim on whatever GST costs incurred at the development stage prior to earning any income,” said Yeoh.

Another issue plaguing property developers concerns joint land development agreements (JLDA) and how to treat the GST that comes with such arrangements.

Under JLDA arrangements, land owners are handing over a right to develop the land to the property developers, and under GST law, it is considered a supply of services and is subject to GST.

“The issue that comes into play is how do you determine the absolute amount for the right to be charged, as this is something that is usually determined at the end of the project, depending on the yield generated, so what happens now [is that] there is an estimation amount charged by the land owner, and this could then potentially lead to issues of under-declaration of GST and so forth,” said Yeoh.

For residential developments which are GST exempt, the issue surfaces when there are additional fittings to the units, such as air-conditioning, heating system and automatic gate system, which are all subject to GST.

“Supply of residential properties with basic fittings is GST exempt; when there are additional fittings involved, the developer has to recognise the GST for these items as a cost of doing business [and this is where some operational issues arise],”said Yeoh.

He added that property developers need to be on their toes on GST issues, to ensure that their operations are not affected by the implementation of the consumption tax,

On the impact of GST on property prices, Yeoh said that in general, the impact would be a minimal 3%.

“Why this impact is a minimal 3% is because prior to GST implementation on April 1, 2015, developers were already subject to sales tax, and had already factored that into their developments,” said Yeoh.

Source: TheEdgeProperty.com