/// Contributor
Where There is a Will,
Iskandar Malaysia Shows You
the Way
Chris Tan
Lawyer Specialising in
Real Estate
Chris Tan is the founder and now
Managing Partner of Chur Associates,
a boutique legal practice that thrives
in delivering business friendly solutions
for its clients and having a niche
positioning of ‘Everything Real Estate’
serving the entire value chain from
the upstream to the downstream.
Chur Associates is a boutique legal
firm founded in 2004, specialising in
designing legal solutions catered to
our clients’ needs. Chur Associates’s
brand promise is “We Deliver!” To that
end, they offer clientsthe necessary
means and methods to ensure their
requirements are met.
You can get in touch with him at
Facebook: Chur Associates
Email: [email protected]
W
ith the celebrative fireworks filling the air over Malaysia territory marking the arrival of 2014,
we are also looking into the implementation of the new yearly rates of the Real Property Gains
Tax (RPGT) and new purchasing threshold for foreigners pursuant to our National Budget
2014. Coupled with the stopping of the Developer’s Interest Bearing Scheme (DIBS) as well as the Bank’s
financing of only the net selling price cutting off the “frills” in any discount, rebate, as well as all value
attached to the “complimentary” transactional fees and expenses, furniture and furnishing etc, these
cooling off measures have surely raised some eyebrows among real estate investors in Malaysia especially
on the forefront of all the actions in Iskandar Malaysia (IM) taking over the limelight away from the usual
suspects in the Greater Kuala Lumpur.
IM, being the hottest development in the state of Johor, lies at the heart of Southeast Asia, strategically
located at the southern tip of Peninsular Malaysia and merely separated by the narrow Straits of Johore
from its developed neighbor of Singapore, has actually emerged strongly now from all the challenges and
difficulties in its the initial years of establishment.
Being the single biggest economic zone in the region, IM is obviously the darling of all major developers
in Malaysia. With state owned interest’s strong presence from both sides of the causeway, there is now
a glut of Chinese interests flowing in from the already established Country Garden in Danga Bay, the
recently launched Paradiso Nouva in Medini to the future in t he RM4.5Billion worth of land bank acquired
by the listed R&F Group. IM has certainly announced its arrival in the radar of international investment
communities tapping the ready window to the world in Singapore particularly in attracting the Chinese
that had surpassed the pioneering IM investors from the Middle East.
Here are a few tipping points for IM so far:
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www.PropertyHunter.com.my
The gradual completion of infrastructure in IM starting with the already in
use expressway that links the east and west of IM with a traveling time of not
more than half an hour to the mass transport rail link directly with Singapore
towards the end of this decade to look forward to.
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While the author makes reasonable
efforts to present information which
he believes to be reliable, the author
makes no representation that the
information or opinions contained in
this article is accurate and complete.
Readers are advised to seek specific
professional advice before acting on
the views.
The fruition of the ground work by the Iskandar Regional Development
Authority (IRDA): IRDA was purposively formed in 2007 to achieve its main
objective of developing IM into the main economic corridor for the southern
region. Five (5) “flagship zones” are identified in IM with different focus and the
success in its education, healthcare as well as the entertainment elements in
theme parks and film production have all been well publicized and endorsed.
IRDA has worked wonders within the gaps of the intrinsic challenges between
the Federal Government of Malaysia the State Government of Johor as well as
the buy in from the Government of Singapore.
The buy in from the Singapore Government
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The emergence of Asian investors and the shift of investment focus to the East
after the Global Financial Crisis of 2008.
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Most importantly, the clear message of political will in the Malaysian
authorities to ensure IM a success. This is best illustrated in the creation of
Medini, the crown jewel within the Nusajaya Flagship Zone.