PETALING JAYA: Gamuda Land, the property development arm of Gamuda Bhd, aspires to achieve 30% carbon reduction by 2025 through its Gamuda Green Plan 2025.
Gamuda Land CEO Ngan Chee Meng (pix) said the group’s development projects adhere to the comprehensive framework of the Gamuda Green Plan 2025, which charts tangible targets driven on environmental, social and governance (ESG) dimensions over the next five years and beyond.
“For example, one action we undertake is to preserve the existing contours of the land to give our homes natural views and lakeside and hillside settings. We preserve trees that were there before us, with a focus on 70% of native species across our developments, towards creating urban forests which reduce ambient temperatures, enhance liveability, and carbon sequestration.
“Moving forward, we will intensify our efforts on climate responsive designs and energy-efficient buildings. We are diving deeper into decarbonisation within the industry, driven by global transitions to greener economies and the nation’s focus on ESG compliance,“ Ngan told Property Take.
He said the group has set up an internal strategic green tech fund to help realise the Gamuda Green Plan 2025 targets. One of its early investment ventures includes a US$5 million (RM20.91 million) collaboration in a global technology venture studio based in the Silicon Valley to capture co-development opportunities in the green tech space of RE, power systems, sustainable buildings, smart cities, e-mobility, ESG-tech, ConTech, and InfraTech which are synergistic with its nature of business.
In FY2022, Gamuda Land plans to launch projects internationally and locally across key townships, including Gamuda City, Gamuda Cove, Gamuda Gardens, and twentyfive.7, with a sales target of RM3.5 billion.
“Learning from our last five-year plan, diversification is important. Therefore, we will focus on high-value, low-risk international acquisitions in Vietnam, Australia, and the UK,“ he said.
Ngan said the group envisioned Digital Industrialised Building System (IBS) to be the future of construction with robotic automation that reduces manpower by 60% and is faster by 40% compared to conventional construction.
“The controlled environment in Gamuda Digital IBS reduces wastage to less than 1%. As Gamuda transforms into a data-driven organisation, the Building Information Management system (BIM), a key digital engineering tool will allow greater precision in the design and construction phases that halved the construction time and save 70% of labour cost,“ he said.
Ngan said the company assisted other organisations with its Digital IBS knowledge to build sustainable premises such as Starbucks.
“Starbucks at the Gamuda Cove, a new 1,530-acre township in Dengkil, Selangor, is the first Starbucks in the country built with IBS. We are also building arboretums with the help of external experts,“ he said.
Ngan is optimistic about 2022 due to the high vaccination rate and reopening of economic activities and international borders.
“We anticipate pent-up demand to drive property sales for market-driven products moving forward following more investor activity due to the new Real Property Gains Tax guidelines.
“The National Property Information Centre has revealed a 21% and 32% year-on-year increase on transaction volume and value in H1’21, respectively,“ he said.
On the post-Covid-19 situation, Ngan said the pandemic has changed the way people live, work, and interact with one another.
“Malaysians are seeking a better quality of life and prefer to be closer to nature with spacious living homes based on the uptake in Illaria at Gamuda Gardens, 18 Enclave in Jade Hills, Kajang, and Enso Woods in Gamuda Cove. All of which are fully booked within a short period after it launched,“ he said.
