Business

Wednesday November 4, 2009

Firms in trade mission eye more jobs in India

By DAVID TAN


They include IJM, Scomi Engineering and Malaysia Property Inc

CHENNAI: IJM Corp Bhd and Scomi Engineering Bhd are eyeing new projects in India.

Malaysia Property Inc (MPI), an initiative of the private and public sectors set up a year ago to project Malaysia as a property investment destination overseas, is also targeting India for the sale of local properties.

IJM deputy chief executive officer Teh Kean Ming told StarBiz that the group was now bidding for projects with an estimated value of RM500mil in India.

“These are mainly highway and elevated infrastructure projects,” he said during a trade and investment mission, led by International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed, to India.

Teh and Scomi International Pte Ltd president Kanesan Veluppillai were part of the delegation, comprising government officials and businessmen.

Teh said the group was targeting to increase its order book in India to over RM1bil next year.

IJM is now constructing some 5.2 million sq ft of commercial and residential space in India.

To date, IJM has completed 1,362km of roads, 15km of light-rail transit and over 15 million sq ft of commercial and residential space in the continent.

Meanwhile, Kanesan said Scomi Engineering was interested in bidding for new monorail projects in seven Indian cities.

“These cities – Gujerat, Assam, Haryana, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and New Delhi – are finalising their transportation master plan.

“We expect them to tender out the projects in the next 24 months. Scomi Engineering will take part in these tenders,” he said.

These projects involve constructing 30km to 40km monorail tracks, he added.

On its RM1.6bil monorail project in Mumbai, Kanesan said the group had completed about 25% of the 19km track.

On Oct 30, Scomi Engineering signed an agreement with Geodisic Techniques Pvt Ltd, a India-based design and structural company, to bid for a 59km monorail project in Bangalore.

MPI director Datuk Eddy Chen Lok Loi said MPI would go all out to woo foreign purchasers next year.

“We view India as an important market as it has a large segment of high net-worth individuals who are keen on buying properties abroad.

“Furthermore, cities like Bangalore and Chennai are close to Malaysia and have strong historical and cultural ties with it,” Chen said.

MPI was also eyeing Japan, South Korea, Britain and the Middle East, he said, adding that it was targeting to sell about RM2bil worth of Malaysian properties next year.

On the impact of the proposed real property gains tax, Chen said the measure would disadvantage Malaysia, as its neighbours, like Singapore, did not have such taxes.

  • E-mail this story
  • Print this story