Guthrie Property aims to be one of top property players
New Straits Times, Monday, March 3, 2003
GUTHRIE Property Development Holding Sdn Bhd, the property arm of Kumpulan Guthrie Bhd, aims to be one of Malaysia's top property players soon. Property division director Wan Abdullah Wan Ibrahim said the company will launch two property projects with a gross development value of almost RM100 million this year.
The first is in Sungai Petani, Kedah, worth RM80 million and comprising 344 residential units, of which 293 will be bungalow lots.
The second project is in Port Dickson, Npgri Sembilan, with a gross development value of RM18 million comprising 96 low-cost units and 161 single-story terrace houses, Wan Abdullah told Business Times recently.
Both projects with a combined area of about 515ha will be launched by April this year. Similar projects are in the pipeline for Kluang, Johor.
"We know that Guthrie is one of the new kids on the block, having ventured into the property sector only in 1994, whereas our established peers such as IOI Properties Bhd, Sime UEP Properties Bhd (owned by Sime Darby Bhd) and Golden Hope Plantations Bhd had all ventured into property since the 1970s.
"But we will strive to be one Malaysia's top property players soon, and backed by our development assets Guthrie is poised to become a leader," he said.
Guthrie is currently undertaking the Guthrie Corridor Expressway (GCE) project, which will be home to 400,000 people in 80,000 mixed property units stretching over 25km.
The GCE is strategically located and the confluence of all major highways M the area such as the New Klang Valley Expressway, North-South Expressway, Expressway Lingkaran Tengah (Elite) the FederalHighway and the Shah Alam Expressway (Kesas).
The GCE incorporates Bukit Jelutor and the coming Bukit Subang, Medan Elmina, Kota Elmina and Lagong Mas development projects. The five projects have a combined area of 4,755ha.
They were all previously oil palm G8-tates owned by Kumpulan Guthrie's 5 per cent-owned subsidiary Highlands &Lowlands Bhd. The subsidiary still owes 3,367ha of oil palm plantation in the area.
The GCE is part of the long-term vision of Kumpulan Guthrie's group chief executive Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim turn the plantation-based group into a diversified powerhouse with a wider earnings base.
But Wan Abdullah pointed out that the plantation business will always be Guthrie's core activity. At the same time, the group will not pass up a good development project whenever the opportunity arises.
Guthrie Property contributed RM285.2 million in pre-tax profit to Kumpulan Guthrie in 2001. Guthrie has 10,000ha of oil palm estate in Malaysia and 250,000ha in Indonesia, of which less than 10,000ha have been converted into property.
"Even though profit per hectare is more lucrative in the property sector compared to plantation, Guthrie Property will always be the younger brother of Kumpulan Guthrie and will not overtake the plantation business," Wan Abdullah said.
Formed in 1994, Guthrie Property is 55 per cent-owned by Kumpulan Guthrie and 45 per cent by Highlands and Lowlands.
Guthrie Property is the developer of Bukit Jelutong launched in 1996, valued at RM4.1 billion.
Wan Abdullah said development plans for Bukit Subang Two, with an area of 405ha, have already been approved by the local authorities, and sales should start.
The GCE will have dual three lanes, two rest service areas, nine interchanges on the mainline, two rest service areas, nine interchanges for connections to existing roads and is also the western link of the Kuala Lumpur Outer Ring Road.
The planned housing communities have won the company various awards. In 1997, Guthrie Property won Best Planned Township Award from the Malaysian Institute of Town Planners and the Best Neighborhood Landscape in 2001 awarded by the Selangor State Government.
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