KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 18 — Tun Abdul Daim Zainuddin is concerned that development in Bandar Malaysia could lead to an even bigger oversupply of property.
Situated on a 486-acre plot of land in Sungai Besi that was formerly occupied by the Royal Malaysian Air Force, it is the Klang Valley’s newest prime real estate in the heart of the country’s capital city.
“I’m worried about the huge overhang,” Daim told reporters after speaking on building a sustainable ecosystem in the Tunku Abdul Rahman Lecture at Shangri-La hotel today.
“They’ve mentioned it could be over RM20 billion amd there have been reports about this. I mean you don’t develop unless you have buyers isn’t it?” he replied when asked his view about the massive development projects there.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad witnessed the signing ceremony between TRX City Sdn Bhd (TRXC) and IWH CREC Sdn Bhd (IWH-CREC) to develop Bandar Malaysia.
TRXC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Minister of Finance (Inc), while IWH-CREC is a consortium comprising Iskandar Waterfront Holdings Sdn Bhd (IWH) and China Railway Engineering Corp (M) Sdn Bhd (CRECM).
IWH-CREC is acquiring a 60 per cent equity stake in Bandar Malaysia Sdn Bhd (BMSB), the project's master developer, from its parent company TRXC.
In April 2019, the government of Malaysia approved the reinstatement of the project and welcomed IWH-CREC's commitment to the project via the signing of the Reinstatement of Bandar Malaysia Framework Agreement.
However, Malaysia already has a glut of unsold properties ranging from houses to apartments and condominiums.
Bandar Malaysia project was reinstated with several changes.
Among these changes is the requirement for 10,000 units of affordable homes to be built, up from 5,000 under the initial plan.
When Daim was pressed on whether he felt the domestic market will be worse next year and if the new properties were not a good idea, the former finance minister said: “They’re very concerned now. There are already reports regarding this. What I’m telling you now is what’s been written in the papers.”
“What I say and what I know is from the newspapers,” he added.
