Iskandar Malaysia - Next Milestone

Our Iskandar Malaysia Project is growing fast, and this is one of the track record, with RM33 Billion worth of investment obtained.

This is a news quoted from Bernama .

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DUBAI, Oct 7 (Bernama) -- The unveiling of Medini Iskandar Malaysia, a mixed international property development yesterday and the launch of the Iskandar Financial District Tuesday at the Cityscape Dubai 2008 exhibition here, shows that Iskandar Malaysia is moving forward despite the global economic uncertainity.

Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman said Iskandar Malaysia had already attracted investments of RM33 billion and was on target to meet its goal of RM47 billion for the period 2006 to 2010.

Primary investors have given an undertaking to proceed with the projects in Iskandar Malaysia.

"None of the investors have pulled out from Iskandar Malaysia," Abdul Ghani told Malaysian reporters after the unveiling of Iskandar Malaysia to potential investors and developers.

Futhermore, he said the Middle East, China and India had the capacity to fund the development in Iskandar Malaysia given the problems in the US and Europe.

At the same function, Iskandar Investment Bhd (IIB) managing director Arlida Ariff said that Middle East investors were the priority in seeking development partners as the region was a new market that previously had not considered Malaysia as a primary property player.

Three other destinations of focus would be China, Australia and India, she said.

Arlinda disclosed that trade visits would be organised to Australia in the third week of this month, followed by China before the end of the year and India, in early 2009.

She said at Cityscape, IIB's focus, was to attract as many second layer investors or development partners as possible.

She said IIB would meet with those investors who had registered their interest in Medini over the last six months.A number of them were from Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

The lead investor in Medini is Global Capital, an investment entity created by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries and Malaysian investors led by Mubadala of Abu Dhabi.

Global Capital investors have committed to investing around US$1 billion to develop and sell the sites acquired within Medini Iskandar Malaysia, which includes the Iskandar Financial District.

The development value of the financial district alone is expected to exceed US$4.5 billion.

While foreign interest in Iskandar Malaysia has received attention,locals are not far behind.

At the launch of the Iskandar Financial District, it was announced that Pelaburan Hartanah Bumiputera Bhd (PHBB) - an entity entrusted with increasing Bumiputera participation in the property sector in Malaysia - was taking the lead in its development, via the acquisition of 12 hectares of land in a joint venture with IIB.

PHHB managing director/chief executive officer Kamalul Arifin Othman said the development would be in phases and there was ongoing discussions with established public listed companies as well as multinationals to take up space in the buildings to be constructed.

He said PHBB had been allocated RM2 billion by the government for its activities and is involved in the acquisition of buildings and property development with the intention of putting its property portfolio into Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT).

He said PHBB had target to launch its REIT within three years.

He said currently PHBB with a landbank of 120 hectares had also acquired an office building called Menara Bumiputra Commerce at Jalan Raja Laut in Kuala Lumpur. It is being constructed at the moment.

According to a statement issued at the launch, Global Capital said its decision to invite expressions of interest for a limited amount of development parcels in the Iskandar Financial District, was in response to pressure from several financial institutions that have expressed an interest in securing early positions there.



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