KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 12 — The developer of the controversial Forest City development in Johor, Country Garden Pacificview Sdn Bhd (CGPV), insisted today that its customers come from diverse backgrounds and denied solely targeting those from China.
It also disavowed the remarks published in a Washington Post report yesterday reportedly from its official spokesman, which among others claimed the project “was kind of forced” to link itself with China’s One Belt One Road Initiative.
“The company would also like to clarify that Forest City has seen a significant increase from Singaporean and Malaysian buyers due to marketing efforts through its sales galleries across Singapore and Malaysia,” the firm said in a statement here.
“The project’s marketing efforts have started to also target other regions, namely Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Dubai, and Japan.
“To date, our customer base is diverse and come from close to 30 countries and we expect this representation of home-buyers and investors to increase significantly in the near future,” it added.
It said the official quoted by the daily does not represent the firm.
“We are surprised that The Washington Post did not provide CGPV the first right to comment on sensitive matters that were raised in the article,” it said.
It also affirmed that it is currently engaging with the committee set up by Malaysia’s Local Government and Housing Ministry, and respects and abides by all rules and regulations in Malaysia.
The report yesterday said that Forest City is struggling with its target after Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad took aim at it, and may ban foreign ownership.
It claimed that about 80 per cent of the buyers of Forest City’s 18,000 units so far have been Chinese.
