Shareda: Guidelines needed on affordable homes

Published on: Monday, July 08, 2013

Kota Kinabalu: The Sabah Housing and Real Estate Developers Association (Shareda) is proposing a Guidelines and Standards for the 10,000 affordable houses to be built in Sabah in the next five years.

It's President Francis Goh said the commitment of building 10,000 units of Shareda-MLGH affordable homes was derived after a thorough checking with the association's members that there would be 22 affordable home projects soon to be implemented.

He said Shareda would be meeting personally with the each developer to iron out issues in order for the scheme to become a reality. He believed that it would take about a month for Shareda to complete everything before presenting the proposal to the Ministry.

"After I was elected as President on March 27, 2013, Shareda received a letter from MLGH to impose a 30 per cent quota for affordable homes that must be incorporated in every of our future development plan submission.

"I managed to convince the Ministry that Shareda members had in the past built a lot of affordable homes but it was not announced publicly.

"Under my leadership, I vouched to Minister Datuk Hajiji Noor that we are willing to commit and build 10,000 units of affordable homes for the state in the next five years.

"Shareda is willing to commit the above numbers because about 16,052 units of affordable homes were built since 2010," he said.

Goh said that currently, 15,030 units were already completed and another 1,022 units under progress and expected to be ready before end of 2013.

"Due to the above evidence, the Minister is kind enough to accept our offer and, thus, the said affordable home policy was then retracted," he said, adding that Shareda's commitment of 10,000 units was without applying any force towards its members. He said it had also come to his attention that some developers were also building landed properties and medium cost apartments 10km within the city centre. However, due to the expensive land cost, they have to sell these at more than RM300,000 to RM400,000 per unit.

"For this type of products, our fellow Shareda members may now have a good opportunity to joint venture with PR1MA Berhad, a company incorporated under Prime Minister Department who will identify feasible locations in the major township like Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, Tawau and Lahad Dato to build another 20,000 units of affordable homes with their selling price set from RM150,000 to RM400,000," he said.

According to him, Shareda was willing to commit and build more affordable homes for Sabah as it acknowledged the fact that the lower income earner earning less than RM2,500 per month have encountered mounting difficulties in purchasing a house which normally sells more than RM350,000 especially in the urban area.

The main reason for the price hike on properties was due to expensive land acquisition, he said. "Despite our commitment to the Ministry, Shareda always see the investment of developing affordable homes is fulfilling our corporate social responsibility rather than profit motivated.

"Thus, to ensure the above commitment can be fulfilled, the most important criteria have always lingered in developer's mind is the marketing risk," he said.

Goh advised Shareda members who wished to implement the same affordable home schemes in the same location, then they should reconsider as to avoid market competition or they can even joint venture with GLC like SPNB, JPN or PR1MA Berhad to reduce their market risks.

"I have to thank SPNB, JPN and PR1MA Berhad after a meeting with them, they fully agreed with my proposal that in order to complement those Government linked companies not to waste their valuable time in finding good feasible land to implement more affordable home projects, why not they sit down with Shareda members and tell us where you want to build as most of our members may have good feasible land to enter into a joint venture with the respective Government linked companies," he said.

It is for this reason, he had also consulted and discussed with all the key players such like SPNB, JPN, PR1MA Berhad to join force and work hand in hand to collaborate with the Ministry of Local Government so that many completed affordable home projects not being sold or occupied in West Malaysia will not happen here in Sabah.

Towards this end, Goh reiterated that Shareda had proposed that a special task force committee to be formed by the Ministry.

The MLGH affordable home special task force, he said may include industrial players and affordable home providers as committee members to collaborate closely with the Ministry in monitoring the overall progress, performance and speed for the implementation of affordable home schemes in Sabah.

"The special task force should assist all developers and Government linked companies to expedite the approval of development orders and to create certain incentives to be given back to those developers who assist the Government to build more affordable homes.

"The task force shall oversee the design, location, size and pricing as to fit the needs of the lower income group.

Guidelines and requirements must be set property to fit all affordable home providers without any conflict of interest," he said.

Goh also thanked the speakers from three respective key players of affordable homes providers namely the SPNB Sabah Branch head, Reggie Sua @ Mohd. Haffiz Sua, Haji Muzafar Mohamed who is the Vice President, Planning and Development for PR1MA Berhad and Datuk Mohamad Yusoff Ghazali, Deputy Director of Jabatan Perumahan Negara.

Source: http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=85981

Four more flyovers for KK – PWD

by Nancy Lai. Posted on June 26, 2013, Wednesday by Borneo Post

KOTA KINABALU: The State Public Works Department (PWD) has proposed six flyovers for the state capital as measures to ease traffic congestion.

According to its deputy director Haji Amrullah Kamal, the Karamunsing and Petagas flyovers have been built, so next on the list are the ones at Bukit Padang and Mile 5, Inanam.

Reiterating state JKR director Datuk John Anthony’s announcement last week, Amrullah disclosed that the remaining two flyovers would be located at the Lido traffic lights and the Penampang bypass traffic lights.

Speaking to reporters after officiating at the “JKR Sabah Wayleave Management’ dialogue yesterday, Amrullah said that PWD was also considering upgrading the six kilometer road from the Inanam Mile 5 traffic lights all the way to the KKIA into three lanes.

This is because the road is supposed to be a short cut to the airport but is congested most of the time, he lamented.

“We want to ensure that this road is passable all the time. The cost for the two new flyovers and road widening project is expected to be more than RM200 million,” he said, adding that the projects were supposed to have been approved and were expected to commence after the funding was received.

“If we have extra funding, we may consider a flyover at Foh Sang,” he said and expressed hope for the Works Minister and Deputy Minister to be able to attend the state PWD’s dialogue on traffic congestion in the central business district scheduled for July 23.

This way, they would be able to better understand the issue and the urgent need to resolve the traffic congestion in the state capital, he said.

Last week, John, during the PWD Road Day press conference, announced that three more flyovers would be built to help reduce traffic congestion plaguing three road junctions in the city.

He said that inefficiency of the traffic lights system in the city is among the main causes of traffic jam.

All traffic merge at junctions and coupled with an inefficient traffic management system, the whole road system suffers major congestion as a consequence, he said.

He said the PWD would be looking at three junctions, namely the junction at Batu 5 Inanam, the junction in Bukit Padang and the Jalan Lintas-Penampang junction.

PWD believed that an immediate solution to these problems would be to build flyovers like the ones in Kepayan near the airport and Karamunsing, he said.

Meanwhile on the wayleave management dialogue, Amrullah said that it was the brainchild of John who wanted the public and stakeholders to have a better understanding and awareness of the matter.

The PWD director wanted an outreach programme and this is part of six dialogue topics to be discussed, namely Road Safety on Temporary Work Zone, Wayleave Management, Material for Road Construction, Traffic Congestion Problem in Urban Areas, Best Practice of Road Planning, Design, Construction and Maintenance and Overloading on PWD Road Network, Amrullah disclosed.

He said that the participants would come from various sectors such as road planners, consultants, contractors, road material suppliers, developers, road users like members of the East Malaysia Planters Association (EMPA), government agencies and interested members of the public.

“We want the public to be aware that excavation works along PWD roads requires an approved wayleave. So if they come across any such activity which they suspect is being done without the approval, they can SMS the information to 088-244333.

“PWD will immediately send a team to check if the contractor has wayleave or not. We will find out what they want to do, how they will implement it and how their project will affect the public. If it does not affect the public, we will allow them to carry out their work,” he stressed.

He also said that it was important for developers to know the proper way to connect their road to the main road in order not to inconvenience other road users.

“So we are here to see that the other road users are not being deprived of the road when the development is connected. We work in tandem with whoever the stake holders are,” he said.

Amrullah also expressed hope that PWD, would, one day in the future be empowered with the authority to issue immediate summons on those who break their law especially in the aspect of vehicle overloading as this action damages the roads.

For now, they rely on the Road and Transport Department (RTD) or the police to issue the necessary summonses.

“For illegal connection to PWD roads, we will close the roads but sometimes that action is of course too harsh. When we close, they will challenge us and when they do we have to go to the court,” he said.

Source: http://www.theborneopost.com/2013/06/26/four-more-flyovers-for-kk-pwd/#ixzz2XHvc7v4O

3-lane Petagas-Lok Kawi carriageway: 

Work to start

Published on: Wednesday, March 27, 2013 by Daily Express

Kota Kinabalu: The Petagas-Lok Kawi road will be upgraded to a three-lane carriageway starting early April so as to ease traffic congestion there, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Yahya Hussin.

He said the Federal-funded upgrading project would cost RM136.2 million and expected to be completed in October, 2015. "The additional lane is hoped to overcome the serious congestion," he said at the leader-with-people session in Petagas. 

The upgrading project, he said, would also involve the construction of a pedestrian overhead bridge in front of the Putatan train station.

He said the traffic congestion along the Putatan road is getting too serious that the residents' daily activities have been greatly affected.

"It is for this reason that we have to widen the road so as to solve the problem," he said.
He blamed the traffic congestion on rapid development in Putatan under the Barisan Nasional (BN) Government.

However, the three-lane carriageway, he said, is proof of the BN's concern over the problem faced not only by residents but also motorists going through the stretch.

In another development he said the government will be constructing a new school, SMK Petagas very soon.

The new school, he said, is to accommodate the influx of students in secondary schools.


There are two secondary schools in Putatan namely SMK Putatan and SMK Tansau.    

UEM Land ready for maiden foray into Sabah

Posted on 13 June 2013 by thesundaily.com
Eva Yeong

From left: UEM Land CFO Azhar Othman, chairman Tan Sri Dr Ahmad Tajuddin Ali and Wan Abdullah speaking at a press conference after the group's AGM yesterday. ADIB RAWI/theSun

PETALING JAYA (June 13, 2013): UEM Land Holdings Bhd, which is likely to surpass its target of RM3 billion in new property sales this year, is eyeing to start an urban development project in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

This foray into Sabah, if it materialises, underscores the group's strategy to expand its portfolio into new markets as it seeks to sustain its impressive growth rate.

"The Kota Kinabalu deal is on the table, but until and unless our partners are ready to sign on the dotted line, we cannot share details. Hopefully by year-end, we will have something," managing director and CEO Datuk Wan Abdullah Wan Ibrahim (pix) told reporters after the group's AGM yesterday.

A deal will mark the group's maiden entry into Sabah's bustling property market.

Wan Abdullah said the potential size of the undisclosed Kota Kinabalu project is between 10 acres and 30 acres.

Currently, the bulk of UEM Land projects is in Iskandar Malaysia, Johor. The group, however, has been busy scouting outside its home base and has identified Penang as a target.

"We're on an acquisition trail. We're still looking into new geographies, but we'll go through a stringent process to make sure we pick the right location for the right product," Wan Abdullah said.

The group is also looking at new opportunities overseas such as in India, Indonesia and Australia.

For the first three months of 2013 (Q1 2013), UEM Land, which is changing its name to UEM Sunrise Bhd pending approvals from the authorities, sold RM1.39 billion worth of new properties. A project in Canada contributed RM431 million in sales.

An estimated 59% of this new sales was contributed from its Nusajaya projects.

The group's unbilled sales jumped to RM3.55 billion in Q1 2013 from RM2.28 billion in Q4 2012.

"In order for us to achieve our growth targets, we certainly need to explore other locations. As you can see from our five-year compounded annual growth rate (sales 77%, revenue 40%), it is quite phenomenal. We want to continue this wave of growth and in order to achieve and sustain that kind of growth, we need to look at new geographies,'' Wan Abdullah said.

This year, the group expects to launch new residential and commercial properties with a total gross development value (GDV) of RM4 billion, which is expected to contribute towards its targeted sales of RM3 billion.

"To enhance our composition of revenue and bottomline, we need to enhance our recurring income. This will probably be more driven organically. We're not going to spend too much capital expenditure on major acquisition of assets for recurring income. We'd rather look at it as organic growth. We've got a few malls under construction and those will all fit into our recurring income portfolio," he said.

The group's current recurring income stands at 8% of total income and its total landbank is 10,600 acres.

RM170m Lido Avenue set to change the skyline

Published on: Sunday, June 09, 2013 by Daily Express

Kota Kinabalu: Lido Avenue, a mixed commercial residential and commercial development with a gross development value of RM170 million, is set to change the skyline along Jalan Lintas in Lido, near here.
Lido Avenue is developer Mega City Development Sdn Bhd's maiden project as it debuts in the property market.

According to General Manager Kevin Ng, Lido Avenue, a high-rise development located strategically in the Lido area would see 15 units of shop/office lot and 228 residential units on a 26-storey twin tower building.

"It is visible from three major roads, namely Jalan Lintas, Jalan Pintas and Jalan Penampang and has three access roads leading to Jalan Lintas," he said, adding that it is less than five kilometres from the Kota Kinabalu International Airport and 10 minutes' drive to the city centre.

It has two lobbies, one for each tower, with three lifts servicing each tower, while the first to fifth levels are covered car parks with a total of 519 parking bays allocated for the buyers, he said.

On the residential offerings, he said they have four types of typical layout ranging from 1,628 sq ft to the smallest 1,268 sq ft.

"We feel the range offered will suit a wide variety of purchasers' preferences.
The density of each floor is very low, only six units per floor for each block," he said.
Another unique design, said Ng, was the absence of "shared or party walls" with neighbouring units, essentially making each a "detached" unit.

"This design, though costlier to construct, offers total privacy for its discerning residents," he said.

He said the development that was launched by Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Hajiji Noor, Saturday, is expected to be completed within three years.  

source: http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=85531

Mah Sing to build a RM1.4mil Kota Kinabalu Convention City

Published May 30, 2013 by PropertyGuru.com.my

Mah Sing Group will transform a 9.33-acre land in Kota Kinabalu, owned by Yayasan Sabah Group (YSG), into a world-class waterfront project with a gross development value (GDV) of RM1.4 billion.

Along this line, Mah Sing’s 51 percent owned unit, Convention City Development Sdn Bhd, has recently inked a development agreement with YSG for an entitlement of RM163 million for the integrated project which will be called as the Kota Kinabalu Convention City.

“The total investment for the 9.33-acre piece of land at RM184.9 million is equivalent to 13.2 percent of the estimated potential GDV and will be paid over a minimum of 42 months,” said Mah Sing.

“Prime land in the heart of Kota Kinabalu is hard to come by, and we envision creating an iconic waterfront development. Kota Kinabalu Convention City will be to Kota Kinabalu what KLCC is to Kuala Lumpur, becoming a landmark in Sabah that will put it on the world map,” noted Group Managing Director Tan Sri Leong Hoy Kum.

Under the agreement, Mah Sing may also exercise an option for an adjacent 5.95-acre land. This could boost the project’s GDV by RM600 million, bringing its total GDV to RM2 billion.

“We may exercise the option for an entitlement price of RM117 million, within two years from the issuance of the separate issue document of title. This will provide further upside for our Kota Kinabalu Convention City project, and the overall entitlement price for both phases will be 15 percent of the potential GDV of RM2 billion to be generated should we exercise the option,” explained Leong.

The project is located along the Coastal Highway and is adjacent to the forthcoming Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC). It will comprise a luxury hotel, office towers, shop offices, lifestyle retail, F&B outlets, a business hotel, as well as serviced residences.

Phase I is expected to take four to five year, and registration of interest will start as early as Q3 2013, Leong added.

Source: http://www.propertyguru.com.my/property-news/2013/5/9473/mah-sing-to-build-a-rm1-4mil-convention-city

Direction of housing sector uncertain

Published on 29th May, 2013 by New Sabah Times

KOTA KINABALU: The direction of housing development in Sabah is uncertain following the unresolved Euro debt crisis, the continuing high unemployment in USA and the recently concluded 13th general elections in Malaysia.

In view of the foregoing, investors are still cautious about making commitments, said Michael Lui Yen Sang, president of the Kota Kinabalu Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KKCCCI).

“However, real estate development is a major engine of growth leading other spheres of economic development,” he said in his opening remarks at the Seminar on Housing Development in Kota Kinabalu.

He said that over the past 10 years, Sabah’s vigorous growth had been spurred by continued property development.

Meanwhile, Datuk Chong Choon Kim, managing director of CH Williams & Talhar too was not overly optimistic about the property market due to several factors.

He said the market showed a continuous upward trend during the past five years but reckoned that the prospects for the next five years would be rather gloomy.

The BN government has allocated substantial sums of money for developing the infrastructure of the rural areas, Chong noted.

“Hence for the next five years, the government would likely reduce spending on schools, medical services such as hospitals, road construction and other essential services to cut budget deficit,” he said.

He was also not optimistic about more urban road development in Kota Kinabalu especially after the BN failed to retain Kota Kinabalu parliamentary seat and the state seats under the constituency.

“Hence, we would not see massive urban road development and opening up of more suitable land for development,” Chong said.

Nevertheless, in order to lower the land value for urban housing development, he said the government should continue to provide more urban roads.

Chong also expected housing demand to be sluggish because the young people are unable to pay for the rising prices of houses.

“Traditionally, Sabah is agro-based, and once the young people abandoned the rural life style, they tend to flock to the KK urban areas for job,” he said.

“Now in KK, over 50 per cent employees earn less than RM2,000 per month, 20 per cent earn between RM2,000 and RM3,500 per month, a further 20 per cent earn between RM3,500 and RM7,000 per month. Only 10 per cent earn more than RM7,000 per month,” Chong said.

The government has categorised houses at RM250,000 as affordable.

“For young people earning RM2,000 per month, they could only afford houses at RM150,000 with a payback period of 30 years,” Chong said.

He said only those earning RM3,500 per month could afford to buy the affordable houses.

“At the moment, the saturation point has already been reached for the high cost houses and the developers should instead build the RM250,000 affordable houses,” he said.

Chong was one of the speakers at the seminar.

Source:  http://www.newsabahtimes.com.my/nstweb/fullstory/68856