(Published in the StarBiz 7th December 2011 issue: page 5)
By EDY SARIF
KUALA LUMPUR: The Government, via the Finance Ministry (MoF), has instructed UDA Holdings Bhd to split its re-development plans for the Pudu Jail land into three parcels to ensure more bumiputra participation in the project.
UDA chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said that of the three parcels, two would given to bumiputra investors to develop, while UDA would develop the balance parcel.
The Pudu Jail redevelopment project has already been named Bukit Bintang City Centre.
“We are doing a new master plan for the development. The Government wants more participation of bumiputras in the real estate sector in Malaysia,” he said yesterday after the launch of UDA's “40 years” personalised corporate stamp and the opening of Hotel Ancasa Express @ Pudu.
Nur Jazlan remarks confirm earlier reports that UDA had been instructed by its shareholder, the MoF, to carve up the land.
“UDA will be the main developer for the project. For the two plots, bumiputra developers will be sourced through open tenders and they need to be financially capable,” he said, adding that Pudu Jail was expected to be developed as a “transport hub”.
The Pudu Jail land on 8.09ha close to Berjaya Times Square in Kuala Lumpur has vast potential for high-end mixed development.
It is reported the Government had dropped a mainland Chinese developer's US$1bil (RM3bil) redevelopment plan in favour of splitting the prime site into parcels to be developed by mainly bumiputra companies.
UDA is said to have come under fire recently for allegedly abandoning the bumiputra agenda by not appointing bumiputra joint-venture turnkey investors for the proposed Bukit Bintang City Centre but Nur Jazlan had denied the allegation.
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