MK Land: Northern region has potential

SHAH ALAM: MK Land Holdings Bhd, which has close to 5,000 acres of landbank, sees potential in the northern region given that over 4,000 acres of its landbank is in Perak.
Its group CEO Lau Shu Chuan (pix) said the property developer has 3,000 acres of landbank in Lembah Beriah, and over 1,000 acres in Bukit Merah.
“Perak still has a lot of land and we’ve identified this as one potential area,” he told a press conference after its AGM here yesterday.
He said that in Lembah Beriah, the company is now working with local authorities on expediting the development that will see the initial 200-over acres being developed into affordable housing and an industrial area with a gross development value of RM500,000. It will also house an education hub.
He said the construction of the Alor Pongsu interchange near the development is expected to be completed by the middle of next year and MK Land requires an access road for this project.
“The state is going through a process to acquire the road so that we can build that connecting road,” said Lau.
MK Land has estimated that it would be able to launch the first phase of the Lembah Beriah development from July 2016 onwards.
Lau said in Penang, prices of properties have already gone up and people are converting industrial land to development hence most industries are moving away, paving the way for upcoming areas like Lembah Beriah, where the journey from Alor Pongsu to the Penang Bridge takes only 20 minutes.
MK Land, known for its development in Damansara Perdana, is now left with 230 acres of land in its crown jewel today.
“We’ve done most of the affordable housing (in Damansara Perdana) in the past so we’re reserving the land for premium housing that are above RM1 million. We’re still doing some of these but not aggressively because it’s not the market trend at the moment, so the focus is on the northern side like Klebang Putra and Meru Perdana (both in Perak), where we have single storey homes ranging from RM200,000 and double-storey houses ranging from RM300,000 to RM400,000,” said Lau.
He said affordable housing is in demand and for last year and this year, most of its focus is on affordable housing, adding that most of the new launches have a take-up rate of 90% and that affordable housing is also well received.
“Whatever the economic situation, we have to plan and launch products that are sought by the market. If there’s an upturn in the market, Damansara Perdana will take advantage of it because we’ve approved for development semi-detached houses and bungalows but this may not be the time to launch them,” said Lau.
He said Damansara Perdana in the central region, as well as Meru Perdana and Klebang Putra in the northern region, will drive growth for the company.
Meanwhile, the company plans to allocate RM7 million in capital expenditure next year mainly for the refurbishment of its resorts.
Under its leisure segment, MK Land runs the Bukit Merah Laketown Resort in Perak, Langkawi Lagoon Resort in Kedah, Taiping Golf Resort as well as Taiping Golf and Country Club in Perak.
“Our resorts have been around for 17 years. It’s time to add a bit more to bring excitement to the community. We’re trying to add new things,” Lau said.