KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 29 — A local developer today confirmed that there was a “localised failure of a slab” last Friday at the Bukit Bintang City Centre (BBCC) project at the site where Pudu Jail was located.

Eco World Development Group Bhd (EcoWorld) was reportedly commenting on photos spread via social media, showing a structural collapse allegedly at the project site in Kuala Lumpur.

EcoWorld said the incident occurred at night on January 25, noting that it went ahead to clear the affected area today after getting the greenlight from the authorities to do so.

“The incident happened at 8.23pm. There was no injury to any person or any property. The relevant authorities were informed and investigations to identify the root cause of the incident were undertaken immediately.

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“In the meantime, the affected area was cordoned off whilst works continued as normal on other parts of the site which were not affected by the incident. On January 28, 2019, BBCC received the go-ahead from the Department of Occupational Safety & Health to proceed with clearing of the area today (January 29, 2019),” the company was quoted as saying in a statement by news portal theedgemarkets.com.

The RM8.7 billion BBCC project sits on 19.4 acres of land where the now-demolished Pudu Jail was located, with an expected gross built-up area of 6.7 million square feet. Only the main gate of the Pudu Jail has been preserved at the site.

EcoWorld, which is listed as the project’s development manager, is in a joint venture with UDA Holdings Bhd and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).

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According to news reports, the BBCC development’s masterplan includes a shopping mall, an entertainment hub, four serviced apartments towers, a lifestyle hotel, three office blocks, and an 80-storey signature tower that will feature offices, luxury residences and a five-star hotel.

The lifestyle hotel reportedly will be a 456-room hotel with 28 storeys to be managed by hotel chain Hilton, while the five-storey shopping mall dubbed the Mitsui Shopping Park Lalaport KL and with estimated costs of RM1.6 billion is a joint venture between BBCC Development and Mitsui Fudosan Asia.

Phase 1 reportedly involves a RM1.6 billion retail mall, 43 levels of strata office called The Stride, an entertainment hub that would feature a 2,500-seater concert hall and a retail space promoting local arts and heritage, and two blocks of serviced apartments, with the first handover for this phase set for the first quarter of 2021.

Phase 2, which involves serviced residences, an office tower and the 3-1 signature tower, is expected to be completed by 2025.