Reme Ahmad The Straits Times AsiaOne 24 Jan 15;
Chinese state-owned developer Greenland Group is investing RM2.4 billion (S$889 million) to build "a waterfront city" near the mouths of two rivers that flow into the Johor Strait - the latest in a line of massive developments facing Singapore.
The deal to construct the Tebrau Bay Waterfront City in eastern Johor Baru was signed in Shanghai yesterday by Greenland and its Malaysian partner, Iskandar Waterfront Holdings (IWH).
The 15-year project, partly on reclaimed land near the mouths of the Tebrau and Pelentong rivers, will showcase a "snow-world theme park", an opera house and a hospital specialising in traditional Chinese medicine, the companies said in a statement.
Greenland Group, a Fortune 500 company, is controlled by the Shanghai state government. IWH is partly owned by Johor's investment arm, Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor.
They did not say what types of residential or commercial projects would eventually be built. The first phase will be on 52ha of land - about the size of 74 football fields - and is slated to begin this year.
Unlike most other projects announced in recent years in Nusajaya or around downtown Johor Baru, the Greenland-IWH development is in Permas Jaya on the eastern corridor of Johor Baru heading towards Pasir Gudang.
The project site faces the Admiralty Road area in Singapore between Senoko power station and Sembawang Park.
Johor Menteri Besar Mohamed Khaled Nordin, who was present at the Shanghai signing ceremony, said there are about 13 Malaysian and foreign companies involved in Danga Bay projects on the western corridor from Nusajaya to JB. "I now want to develop the eastern corridor of Johor Baru stretching from Tebrau Bay to Pasir Gudang," he said.
Mr V. Sivadas, executive director of PA International Property Consultants, said the snow-world theme park could be a major employment and tourism generator.
The Tebrau Bay Waterfront City joins other projects announced along the Johor Strait.
Last week, Malaysia approved the Forest City project to be built by China's Country Garden Holdings and a Malaysian partner. The project involves four man-made islands totalling 1,386ha - nearly the size of three Sentosa islands.
Malaysia also okayed reclamation of two pieces of land totalling 31.7ha on both sides of the Causeway. The Princess Cove development is backed by China's R&F Properties.
There has been concern that these projects, along with other residential developments in Danga Bay and Nusajaya, will cause a massive glut in property in the coming years.
Mr Wee Soon Chit, executive director of Landserve consultancy in Johor, said that as of last November, 548,295 residential units will be available in southern Johor by 2017. These include about 117,155 high-rise apartments.
"We have more than adequate residential stock. Unless developers are able to get foreign buyers to come in, it will not be easy to find takers," he added.
Mr Wee said that assuming Johor's population grows at 5 per cent a year, its two million population in 2017 would need just 500,000 units at a ratio of four people to a home.
