KUALA Lumpur-based Redez Properties Sdn Bhd expects to reap RM3bil in sales when its township, Bandar Bistari Perdana, is completed in 2013.

The company’s managing director Dr Derek Wong Poh Kum said that the mixed development project on 1,645 acres of freehold land would be developed in 11 phases over the next 10 years.

He said the township, sited 35km northeast of Johor Baru city centre, would feature 16,975 residential and commercial property units and have a population of 80,000.

Wong said that phase one, comprising 219 units of 20ft by 65ft and 20ft by 70ft double-storey terraced houses costing RM95,000 for non-bumiputras, would be launched next month.

A total of 1,162 units would be launched this year, he added.

''The Masai area has been fast developing in the last five years and is slated to be the next growth centre in this part of the state,'' Wong said after the ground-breaking ceremony of the project by Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman last week.

He said pricing would be the main strategy to attract buyers as none of the company's competitors within 10km of the project offered double-storey terraced houses at less than RM100,000.

Wong said the location of the project was considered very strategic as two major highways – Senai-Desaru and Gemas-Pasir Gudang – were planned in the near future.

At the press conference, Ghani said plans for the Senai-Desaru highway project were already in the final stage and the federal government and Ranhill Bhd would sign the agreement in March or April.

He said work on the 48km tolled four-lane carriageway would start in mid-2003.

Ghani said the project would cost between RM700mil and RM800mil, including erecting a single-span bridge over Sungai Johor. The entire project would take at least three years to complete.

Source : The Star  14/3/2003