UEM Land: Nusajaya will come to life by 2011

UEM Land: Nusajaya will come to life by 2011

By KANG SIEW LI

UEM Land Sdn Bhd, the property unit of builder UEM World Bhd, forecasts its flagship Nusajaya project in South Johor to reach critical mass by 2011, a point where each of its seven signature developments become self-sustaining and would be feeding off each other.


The 9,720ha Nusajaya boasts of seven signature, or "catalyst", developments, including the all-new Johor state administrative centre, a medical city, a waterfront precinct named Puteri Harbour and the Southern Industrial and Logistic Clusters (SILC).


"Right now, our main task is to put Nusajaya on the world map. But by 2011, that's when Nusajaya would come to life as a regional city," UEM Land managing director Wan Abdullah Wan Ibrahim told Business Times in an interview.


The pace to develop Nusajaya has been accelerated with the setting up of the Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA), a body responsible in carrying out the development of Iskandar Development Region (IDR), which encompasses Nusajaya.


The IRDA this week announced a slew of incentives to attract investors to the IDR.


Since taking the helm at UEM Land in January 2006, Wan Abdullah has spent most of his time making sure projects in Nusajaya get off the ground.


He expects that among the projects completed by 2011 include a private marina with an immigration and Customs checkpoint, a hospital, a convention centre, the retail section along the waterfront and the Johor state administrative centre, of which the latter will have a working population of some 6,000.


"The SILC industrial park will also probably be fully sold and several university campuses (will be) opened," he added.


The year 2011 will also be one when UEM Land is poised to break RM1 billion per year in revenue. It registered a revenue of RM453 million last year.


"For the next five years we expect to report combined revenue of some RM6 billion. That's because a lot of projects are still in the implementation and construction stages.


"But by 2011, we hope to be ranked in the annual billion dollar club in terms of revenue," he said.


Wan Abdullah believes that now is the time for prospective buyers and investors to buy properties in Nusajaya.


Already, prices of properties in Nusajaya are at a premium to the rest of Johor, but still below Kuala Lumpur's rates.


"However, when the (seven) catalyst developments are all in place, it (price of properties in Nusajaya) could surpass Kuala Lumpur's property prices. That's when we will be comparing our rates to Singapore's (properties) rather than that of Kuala Lumpur's," he said.


Meanwhile, UEM Land will raise up to RM2 billion over the next three years to finance its Nusajaya project.


It plans to raise the funds in three tranches, all of which will be initiated this year.


The first tranche covering RM270 million was announced on March 7, which will be used to finance one of its residential projects called Horizon Hills.


It expects to raise the amount through the sale of Islamic bonds in the next two months.


The second tranche of RM1 billion was announced on March 23 by UEM World Bhd managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Ahmad Pardas Senin.


The company plans to raise the money through the issuance of Islamic financial instruments by the third quarter of this year to fund its ongoing work in Nusajaya.


"The third and final tranche of the fund-raising, totalling RM700 million, will be used to finance the second and third phases of the Johor state administrative centre in the development," said Wan Abdullah.


The property developer expects to generate a gross development value of RM4.3 billion from the Nusajaya project.