By Khairul Khalid
China’s seventh largest property developer Country Gardens is planning to launch a reclamation development project in Nusajaya, Iskandar called the Forest City.
“It is confirmed. We are still in the planning stages. We will be partnering with Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor (KPRJ). There are some technical issues to hash out but the company should be making an announcement soon with more details,” a Country Garden official told KiniBiz.
KPRJ is Johor state’s investment arm. It is also a shareholder in Iskandar Investment Berhad (IIB) whose principal role is the development of catalytic projects in Iskandar. The other shareholders of IIB are Khazanah Nasional Berhad and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).
This would be Country Garden’s second foray into property development in the Iskandar region.
In 2012 it purchased 57 acres of land from Iskandar Waterfront Holdings (IWH) in 2012 and developed Country Garden Danga Bay (CGDB) in Iskandar, Johor Bahru with a GDV (Gross Development Value) of RM18 billion.
The CGDB waterfront development offers a total of 9000 units including 33 blocks of condo and 11 blocks of apartments comprising serviced apartments and condos with one, two and three bedrooms. The development will be completed in phases with Phase 1 to be completed in 2016, Phase 2 in 2017 and Phase 3 in 2018.
Following Country Garden’s footsteps, more Chinese developers have been flocking to Malaysia especially in the Iskandar region. In 2013 China institutional and retail investors spent US$1.9 billion (RM6.2 billion) in Malaysian real estate.
Last month, Greenland Group from China was in talks with IWH to purchase 150 acres of land in Iskandar, Johor. Greenland is planning to invest RM3 billion for an integrated development project in Danga Bay.
Last December, Guangzhou R&F Properties acquired 116 acres of land from the Sultan of Johor for RM4.5 billion, widely believed to be in the Iskandar area. It is planning residential and commercial developments over six parcels of land with an estimated saleable floor area of approximately 3.5 million square meters.
Last November 2013, IIB secured a RM2.5 billion real estate investment from China-based company, Qingdao Zhouyuan Investment Holdings.
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