PROPERTY developer and subsidiary of Sunway group, SunwayMas Sdn Bhd, is expecting a 33% increase in sales to RM200mil from its projects this year, said executive director Lee Teong Chye.

He said sales would mainly be from projects like Sunway Batu Caves, Rawang Perdana 2, SunwayMas Commercial Centre, Bangi Town Centre and Seri Setia in Sungei Way.

According to Lee, SunwayMas has a total land bank of 1,600 acres, of which 200 acres are for ongoing projects with an expected sales value of RM390mil while the remaining 1,400 acres are for upcoming projects valued at RM1.3bil.

Lee said the company had a number of upcoming projects, including Sunway Batu Caves, a 102-acre mixed housing development with a sales value of RM300mil and the RM280mil Pano Rimba project in Serendah, which will concentrate on retreat homes to be launched in the second quarter and second half-year respectively.

Other projects to be launched only in 2005 include Mont Putra and Serendah Techno Park in Rawang. Spanning 320 acres, the projects have a total sales value of RM420mil.

The company also has a 30-acre commercial development project, Bangi Town Centre. Lee said the first phase of the project, launched in January, was already 70% sold. He is optimistic the balance 30% would be sold in ''another month or two.''

''The first phase, which consists of 38 units of two- and three-storey shop offices, has a total sales value of about RM25mil and is expected to be completed in 2006,'' he told a briefing in Petaling Jaya yesterday.

The second phase of the project, consisting of 265 units of three-storey shop offices, would be launched at the end of the month.

Besides shop offices, the project will also have a four-storey shopping mall with 20 shoplots, a supermarket and a bazaar as well as a 20-storey office tower.

''We are looking at the possibility of five launches to last five years,'' he said, adding that the company was planning another three phases of shop offices.

Lee said part of the town centre would be adopting Singapore's Bugis Street concept with al-fresco dining. ''We are also planning to bring in a hypermarket at the shopping mall,'' he said, adding that Bangi would be a hive of activity with a proper commercial area.

To help smaller investors and entrepreneurs, Lee said the units would have their own strata titles and buyers can purchase only one floor or even half a floor at a time.

The town centre, said to have a business catchment of 100,000 from neighbouring residential and commercial properties like Kajang and Putrajaya, is accessible from the KL-Seremban highway, Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong, the soon-to-be-completed Kajang ring road and Jalan Reko, Kajang.

It is also located within the vicinity of several educational institutions like Universiti Putra Malaysia, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Multimedia University.

Bangi Town Centre is a privatised project by Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Selangor and developed by SunwayMas' subsidiary, Ikaz Engineering Sdn Bhd. The project, with total sales value of over RM200mil, is expected to be completed in five years.

Source : The Star   22/4/2003