KUALA LUMPUR: ALDAR Properties PJSC, which is part of a consortium of Middle Eastern companies that will be investing billions of ringgit in Node 1 of the Iskandar Development Region (IDR), believes the project holds tremendous potential. 

Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh, chairman of ALDAR Properties, which will act as the master planner for the development, said the IDR would be a major world-class development, given its location. 

“The vision is very clear. This will be a world-class city, a place for hundreds of thousands of people to work, play and get old, get educated,'' he told a media conference yesterday. 

Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh

“I think, more importantly, it will be a crossroads, a place where many cultures meet. That is clearly a Malaysian value and, hopefully, we can execute it well,'' Al Sayegh said. 

Being a property development company, ALDAR Properties would bring its experience in development master planning and infrastructure design to Node 1, he said. 

From participating in one of the biggest property boom markets in the world, Al Sayegh feels the IDR has the most important tenet in property. 

“For real estate, it is location, location, location,'' he said. 

He said following the requirement from the Malaysian Government, the project would be well planned and “will create a zone not only for working and logistics but for entertainment, education and health that will make the place very liveable”. 

“We are pleased to be part of the Government's vision, a clear vision which is important for this thing to take place,'' he said. 

The challenge in the IDR project would be the planning, he said, adding that what interested the consortium was sustainable development and not quick profit. 

“We don't want a failure on our hands. The challenge is to look strategically and think what would be best for Malaysia, its neighbours and how we are best able to achieve it,'' he said. 

Al Sayegh said local content in the project would be important as was confidence in the future. 

“We are optimistic about the future, and when we calculate how much office space or residential unit we need, we forget about the normal growth. We have to plan ahead,'' he said. 

As for returns, Al Sayegh said there was no set target for returns from this investment but thought it would be very rewarding in the long term. 

“We believe there will be value appreciation of the land and this value will be relevant to our shareholders,'' he said.  

Al Sayegh added that ALDAR Properties was looking to establish a base in this region and felt the whole region was a compelling growth story. He also said the goal of the project was not just building skyscrapers. 

“We think the goal is sustainability. It means being able to roll the plan without destroying the resource base and being able to conserve energy,'' he said.  

The participation of ALDAR Properties also opens avenues for further investment opportunities with Khazanah Nasional Bhd and it is looking for opportunities in this region. 

“We are not in a hurry and we want to grow with our partners not only in Malaysia but the whole region,'' he said. Al Sayegh said the marketing plan for the IDR would target investors from across the world and the consortium would not ask for additional tax breaks. 

“We are working within existing laws and regulations that are in place to develop the area,'' he said. 

On the creation of a financial centre, he said it would complement that of Singapore’s with additional space and services especially in Islamic finance.  

He added that Middle Eastern banks were looking for opportunities in Asia. So were some of the large foreign banks with expertise in Islamic banking. 

“We think the development of financial and entertainment clusters will be good stories over the next 12 months,” he said. 

Source : The Star 30/8/2007