Business

Tuesday January 8, 2013

Firms vie for tie-up with Prasarana

By SHARIDAN M. ALI
sharidan@thestar.com.my


Shahril intends to increase the non-fare business contribution to at least 20% of Prasarana’s revenue by 2017 from 8% currently. Shahril intends to increase the non-fare business contribution to at least 20% of Prasarana’s revenue by 2017 from 8% currently.

PETALING JAYA: Three companies are in the running to team up with Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd for its mixed-development project in Brickfields which has a gross development value of RM1.2bil, according to a source.

The source said the three frontrunners are Bina Puri Holdings Bhd, TH Properties Sdn Bhd and NPO Development Sdn Bhd.

“One of the three is speculated to emerge winner,” said the source.

The source said while the details of the projects were still sketchy, the proposal for development was being evaluated by the Government, which the source added should not be a problem.

“The project is a public-private partnership development where Prasarana's portion of the profit sharing on average could be in the range of between 20% and 30% of the GDV (gross development value)” the source told StarBiz yesterday.

In a recent media briefing on its corporate restructuring, Prasarana revealed that it expected to announce the award of the open tender Brickfields project on a two-acre site near its monorail line along Jalan Tun Sambanthan early next month.

This will be the biggest property and commercial development project by the urban public transport asset owner and operator.

Prasarana has been actively pursuing property development projects since its first project was announced early last year along its rail line at the Dang Wangi LRT station.

The RM1.04bil tower contract was secured by Crest Builder Bhd and Detik Utuh Sdn Bhd.

Other than that, Prasarana has also awarded a contract to Trans Resources Corp Sdn Bhd to develop the Ara Damansara LRT station into a mixed commercial project with a GDV of RM687.6mil.

Prasarana has also inked a joint-venture with Naza TTDI Sdn Bhd to build a 26-storey condominium tower on a 0.4ha site in Taman Tun Dr Ismail with a GDV of RM153mil.

In its recent corporate restructuring, Prasarana created a new entity called Prasarana Integrated Development Sdn Bhd (Pride) to manage the property business.

It is also expected to work with the Government for Project Perumahan Rakyat 1Malaysia.

Going forward, Prasarana would be looking for more opportunities in identifying more parcels of lands to be developed into residential and commercial projects for the group to further unlock the value of its assets as well as providing recurring income for the company.

It was reported that Prasarana has 8.4ha of undeveloped land along its Ampang and Kelana Jaya LRT lines.

Group managing director Datuk Shahril Mokhtar was quoted as saying that it wanted to increase the non-fare business contribution to at least 20% of its revenue by 2017 from 8% now.

Prasarana, which was incorporated in 1998, took over the assets and operations of the LRT in Klang Valley (the Kelana Jaya Line and Ampang Line now) as well as feeder bus services in 2002.

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