Property Hunter Magazine Property Hunter Magazine Issue 55 - June 2014 | Page 36

/// West Malaysia Property News Johor Identifies Nusajaya as the First Area to Have Free Connection House Prices in KL, Johor and Penang Jump by More Than 30% in 2013 Explosive Growth Coming for Eco World shares to raise RM1.37 billion and a rights issue to raise RM788 million to fund the acquisitions and as working capital for its development activities. Robert Kuok Buys Nusajaya Land for $74 Million With Confidence It is also proposing a subscription of shares in Eco World by shareholders of Eco World Development. Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Mohamed Khaled Nordin visiting booth after launching the Science, Infromation, Communication and Technology week Johor is going wireless this year starting with 100 hot spots within Iskandar Malaysia to offer free internet connections to users. Menteri Besar Datuk Mohamed Khaled Nordin said that the state government was currently talking with five local service providers to install wireless infrastructure in the hot spots. He said Nusajaya had been identified as the first area in Iskandar Malaysia to have the free WiFi installed at all state government and commercial buildings and public places. “We are going to make the announcement within the next one month on the successful service provider to undertake the project,” Mohamed Khaled said on Tuesday. He said this to reporters at the launch of the Johor Science, Information, Communication and Technology Week 2014 at Persada Johor International Convention Centre. Mohamed Khaled said focus would be given to the high density areas in the state in providing the WiFi services to users and gradually expand to least populated areas. 36 www.PropertyHunter.com.my He declined to give the names of five service providers which the state government was currently talking with except that one of them was Telekom Malaysia Bhd. “At the end of the day we want to make sure that there will be good and efficient internet penetration in the urban and rural areas in Johor,” said Mohamed Khaled. Separately, he said that Telekom Malaysia had allocated RM32 million to provide the high speed broad band (HSBB) infrastructure in Iskandar Malaysia and RM10 million for the Pengerang oil and gas hub. He said it was important to provide seamless and improve the HSSB connectivity in Iskandar Malaysia and Pengerang due to the high impact economic activities taking place in the two economic growth corridors. “Apart from good infrastructure layout such as electricity and water, investors will also look at the good internet connectivity before decided to invest in certain areas,” said Mohamed Khaled. Kuala Lumpur, Johor and Penang saw average residential property prices increase by more than 30 percent last year, according to the Property Market Report 2013 by the Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH). Specifically, average residential property prices in Johor rose 39.92 percent to RM275,854 in 2013 from RM197,147 in 2012. Kuala Lumpur posted an average increase of 37.66 percent while Penang recorded an increase of 31.45 percent. Overall, the Malaysian property market posted moderate growth which saw values increase marginally by 6.7 percent, on the back of a 10.9 percent contraction in volume. In 2013, 381,130 transactions worth RM152.37 billion were recorded compared to 2012’s 427,520 transactions worth RM142.84 billion. Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan, said, “The residential sub-sector retained the lion’s share in the property market, contributing 64.6 percent share in volume and 47.3 percent in value. The year registered 246,225 residential property transactions worth RM72.06 billion which reflects a contraction of 9.7 percent in transactions and increase of 6.3 percent in value against 2012.” For this year, Ahmad Maslan expects house prices to continue to increase, albeit not drastically, “while the number of transactions may be stable.” He noted that the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in April next year may result in a slight uptick in house prices. “When GST is implemented next year, we don’t see house prices increasing too much because the buying, selling and renting of residential properties are not taxed,” explained Ahmad Maslan. Overall, the Malaysian property market posted moderate growth which saw values increase marginally by 6.7 percent, on the back of a 10.9 percent contraction in volume. Chang said following the completion of this exercise, Eco World will become a property player for all sectors. ECO World’s show gallery in Johor Bahru “We will have affordable homes, semi-detached and terraced houses, bungalows, high-rise residences, townships, commercial centres, and business and industrial parks,” he said at a media briefing here, yesterday. Robert Kuok, chairman of Kerry Group Ltd., holds a trophy during the 2012 CCTV China Economic Person of The Year award South East Asia’s richest man Robert Kuok, with Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional, has bought land in Johor’s Iskandar Malaysia for a mixed development project. Development, to buy 5ha of land in Puteri Harbour, Nusajaya - the epicentre of Iskandar Malaysia - from UEM Land. ECO World Development Group Bhd will emerge as among the country’s top 20 deve