Over 500 houses in Hong Seng Estate in Penang may soon have to make way for a new housing project.

A resident who has stayed there for 30 years said he heard about the plans to redevelop the land but did not have any details.

“This is my ancestral house. If the offer is good, we may accept it,” he said, adding that they were paying RM40 rental per month.

Hong Seng Estate located off Jalan Mount Erskine was named after the original owner who purchased the land, which was then a jungle, in 1819. Hong Seng, who is buried there, had wanted to turn the land into a graveyard plot for his family.

The land is now surrounded by 50 family ancestral graves and backed by lush greenery.

According to former state executive councillor Datuk Khor Gark Kim, the administrators of the land spanning 62 acres approached him about the development project.

“Many developers had been invited to develop the estate but to no avail, partly due to a lack of legal access.

“The administrators then asked me if I could redevelop it since I was the assemblyman for Tanjung Bungah,” he said at his office in Midlands One-Stop shopping centre in Burmah Road yesterday.

Khor said he met with Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng twice last year about the plan, adding that Lim thought it was a good idea.

The project will have low medium-cost (30%), affordable (25%) and open-value (45%) housing.

“The residents will each be given a low medium-cost unit with three bedrooms and they will also be compensated with rental subsidy for three years while the project is ongoing.

“This is my open commitment to them if I develop the land,” he said.

Source: TheStar.com.my

Penang Affordable Housing Video

(courtesy of Penang State Housing)

Taman Daya Maju, a residential development by Airmas Group in Bukit Mertajam, Penang. Strategically located next to the junction between Jalan Song Ban Kheng and Jalan Megat Harun. It’s only few hundred meters away from the Maju Jaya Business Center, just a mere minutes drive to Bukit Mertajam Town Center.

This development comprises 54 units of 3-storey townhouse.

More details to be available upon project launch.

Property Project : Taman Daya Maju
Location : Bukit Mertajam, Penang
Property Type : 3-storey Townhouse
Total Units: 54
Indicative Price: RM468,000 onwards
Developer : Airmas Group

Location Map:

Pearl Tropika, is the latest development of the self-contained Pearl City township of Simpang Ampat in Southern Seberang Perai. It is just next to Raintree Park, only a mere minutes drive to the North-South Highway, Penang Science Park and the Penang Second Link and Pearl City Mall.

Property Project : Pearl Tropika
Location : Pearl City, Simpang Ampat, Penang
Property Type : 2-Storey Terrace & Semi-D
Land Area: 20′ x 56.5′ onward (Terrace),  30′ x 73′ onward (Semi-D)
Built-up Area: 20′ x 36.5′ onward (Terrace), 22′ x 45′ onward (Semi-D)
Tenure : Freehold
Indicative Price: RM428,000 onward (Terrace), RM566,000 (Semi-D)
Developer : Tambun Indah

Location Map:

Poll to find name for Penang’s new, intelligent, satellite township

Groundbreaking of Aspen Vision City in Batu Kawan, Penang

The people will have a say in the naming of Penang’s new, intelligent, satellite township on mainland Seberang Prai.

The township is in Batu Kawan, in the southern Seberang Prai district, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said today.

He said state investment arm Penang Development Corporation (PDC), which owns the land in Batu Kawan, was in the process of demarcating the areas to be included in the new township.

“We expect it will take about a month for PDC to determine the areas for the new township. Once that is done, we will start an online poll so that the people can give their input on what we should name it.
“The online poll may be for two months or even six months. We will make the announcements in due time,” he told reporters after the groundbreaking of the Aspen Vision City project in Batu Kawan this morning.

Lim had recently said that there was a need for a name for the new township, which was transforming the old, quiet town of Batu Kawan. The plan had earlier caused some confusion and had met with the disapproval of researchers and historians interviewed in Chinese newspapers.

Lim said the new name would not replace the old name Batu Kawan, as the area itself would still remain apart of the new development.

“Batu Kawan will still be here as a part of this larger satellite township, which we envision will grow into a metropolis in the future,” he said, stressing that the area, where Fortune 500 companies were present, remained important to Penang’s economy.

While the actual boundaries of the new township are yet to be disclosed, Lim had previously said that the southern Seberang Prai district, which is also seeing new developments, could be included in the plan.

Aspen City Vision, a mixed development with a gross value of RM8 billion, is also expected to change the landscape of Batu Kawan.

The project is a joint venture between the Malaysian Aspen Group and Ikano Pte Ltd, which owns the Ikea franchise in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. The partnership is also bringing the famous Swedish furniture retailer to Penang.

Ikea in Batu Kawan will be the brand’s first outlet in the northern region. The store is expected to be ready in 2018, along with Aspen Vision City’s phase one, Vervea, the biggest gated and guarded commercial precinct in northern Malaysia.

Aspen Group chief executive officer Datuk M. Murly said the project would change the landscape of Batu Kawan and beyond, as neighbouring areas would also benefit from the new developments.

Source: TheMalaysianInsider.com