Business

Thursday July 12, 2012

Prasarana plans several Klang Valley developments

By LEONG HUNG YEE
hungyee@thestar.com.my


KUALA LUMPUR: Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd (Prasarana), which has teamed up with Naza TTDI Sdn Bhd to undertake a residential project in Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI), has earmarked several plots of lands in the Klang Valley for property development.

Prasarana group chairman Tan Sri Ismail Adam said the move to venture into the property sector makes sense. “Most of Prasarana's existing and future land banks are located at prime and populated areas. It will diversify the source of revenue for Prasarana,” he said at joint venture agreement signing between Prasarana and Naza TTDI for a condominium project in TTDI.

“We have identified land in Ara Damansara, Brickfields, Dang Wangi, Putra Heights and the former bus depot land in Taman Melawati for development,” group managing director Datuk Shahril Mokhtar said.

He said the tender exercise for the development on four acres in Ara Damansara had been closed and the tenders were now being evaluated.

Condo project: Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhdgroup chairman Tan Sri Ismail Adam (right)checking out a condominium model after the signing of a joint venture agreement between Prasarana and Naza TTDI Sdn Bhd for a condominium project in Taman Tun Dr Ismail in Kuala Lumpur. With him are (from left) Naza TTDI chairman SM Nasarudin SM Nasimuddin, deputy executive chairman and group managing director SM Faliq SM Nasimuddin and prasarana group managing director Datuk Shahril Mokhtar.

“Give us a couple of months. What happened is that we are getting the bidders to come in to propose what kind of mixed development will be suitable. We are not limiting them,” Shahril said when asked on the announcement of the successful bidder.

Additionally, he said the tender for development on a two-acre site near the monorail station in Brickfields was still ongoing and was expected to closed on July 21.

Asked how the bidders would be chosen, Shahril said that it would be based on concept and price as well as what the profit-sharing was going to be like for Prasarana. “We look into every angle before deciding.”

Earlier, Prasarana announced that its first property development along its rail line was on the site of the Dang Wangi light rapid transit (LRT) station which has a gross development value (GDV) of about RM220mil. It announced that a joint venture between Crest Builder Holdings Bhd's unit Crest Builder International Sdn Bhd and Detik Utuh Sdn Bhd had won the bid to develop real estate on the site of the Dang Wangi LRT station.

Shahril said the details of the development on Dang Wangi site were still being finalised.

On its ancillary income, Shahril said Prasarana hoped to increase its non-fare revenue to 20%-30% in five years. “Currently, our non-fare revenue is about RM30mil or 7%.”

(From left) Shahril, Ismail, Naza TTDI Sdn Bhd chairman SM Nasarudin SM Nasimuddin and SM Faliq at the joint venture agreement signing

He said venturing into the property development business would open new and constant non-fare revenue income for the group.

“The fares for public transport are highly structured, and ours have not been reviewed for the last 10 years. Wherever there are opportunities to capitalise on our assets, we will go for it and it is a good sustainable business for the company,” he said.

It was reported that Langkawi Development Authority would likely take over the operations of the Langkawi cable car services from Prasarana by year-end. Prasarana has been operating the cable car services via its subsidiary Panorama Langkawi Sdn Bhd since December 2002.

Shahril said the two groups were still in the midst of discussions on how to move forward. “We will make an announcement soon.”

Meanwhile, the joint venture between Prasarana and Naza TTDI Ventures Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Naza TTDI Sdn Bhd, will develop a condominium project with GDV of RM153mil.

“It will be based on a 30:70 profit-sharing for Prasarana and Naza TTDI. The project will be built on our land valued at RM12mil, with Naza TTDI doing most of the development work,” Shahril said.

Naza TTDI deputy executive chairman/group MD SM Faliq SM Nasimuddin said the 26-storey complex would house 186 condominium units of between 650 sq ft and 1,200 sq ft.

“This project is expected to start construction in the first quarter next year and completed by the first quarter of 2016,” he said, adding that the units would be priced at about RM950 per sq ft.

Ismail said Prasarana had been very strict with its evaluation process and Naza TTDI was selected from 33 companies which had participated in a tender process.

“It (the land) was a bus depot for Rapid and has been left vacant. The board has decided that it is probably the right time to develop this piece of land in TTDI.”

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