By Romesh Navaratnarajah:Property giant CapitaLand will develop a new township in Iskandar Malaysia after its wholly-owned subsidiary CapitaLand Malaysia signed an agreement with Iskandar Waterfront Sdn Bhd (IWSB) and Temasek Holdings to jointly acquire and develop sites in Danga Bay (A2 Island).
The deal involves purchasing 71.4 acres or 3.1 million sq ft of freehold land in A2 Island for about S$324 million.
The signing of the agreement was witnessed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his Malaysian counterpart Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak.
CapitaLand Malaysia will lead the development of the township which is expected to yield a total gross development value (GDV) of about S$3.2 billion.
To be developed within 10 to 12 years, the luxury waterfront community will comprise high-rise and landed homes as well as a central waterfront hub with a marina, restaurants, shopping mall, offices, serviced residences and recreational facilities.
"Given the close proximity and the strong bilateral ties between Malaysia and Singapore, and the increasing investor confidence in Iskandar Malaysia, CapitaLand finds this a compelling investment opportunity in a new upcoming development region. This will be our first direct large scale township investment and development in Malaysia," said Lim Ming Yan, President and Group CEO of CapitaLand.
Meanwhile, The Ascott Limited (Ascott), CapitaLand's serviced residence unit, has inked a deal to manage its second serviced residence in Iskandar Malaysia.
Set to open in 2015, the 310-unit Somerset Medini Iskandar will be Ascott's largest property in Malaysia. The development will form part of the wellness development by Pulau Indah Ventures Sdn Bhd, a joint venture between Khazanah Nasional and Temasek.
Image: (L to R) President & Group CEO of CapitaLand Limited, Mr. Lim Ming Yan; Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr. Lee Hsien Loong; Prime Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak; Managing Director of Iskandar Waterfront Sdn Bhd, Tan Sri Lim Kang Hoo; and Menteri Besar of Johor, Y.A.B Dato' Haji Abdul Ghani Othman viewing the A2 Island, Danga Bay architectural model. Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor of PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email romesh@allproperty.com.sg Related stories:S'pore to play larger role in IskandarMapletree REIT files preliminary prospectusRaffles opens luxury hotel in Makati, Philippines
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