Construction & Property 101 - Volume 4.

In the 4th edition of my very own Construction & Property 101, I would like to first mention on some of the highlights of November 2009.

November has seen the commencement of some of the large construction projects in the city centre. The super luxurious St Mary Residences along Jalan Tengah was awarded in early November; ourselves were awarded the RM145million Chua Tower in the middle of the month - the Chua Tower is a prestigious 35-storey office development along Jalan Ampang/Jalan Binjai. Upon completion, it will be one of the most modern office buildings in the city.

The prestigious Chua Tower.

On the infrastructure projects, the Government has been actively calling for the Pre-qualification exercises for the construction of the new Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) as well as the extension to the LRT. In fact, quite a number of smaller tenders (such as for the depots and car parks) for the LRT packages had been called - and some strong competition are expected.

On the Property side, the most recent news-making development would be the recently completed Pavilion Residences Tower 1 in Jalan Bukit Bintang. Prior to its grand launch in early November, it had already been 50% sold. The Pavilion Residences is part of the 12.6 acre world-class mixed-use development Pavilion Kuala Lumpur, which also comprises the Pavilion KL mall, the upcoming Raffles Kuala Lumpur, a 200 room hotel and suites, as well as a premier corporate office block.

Take this development - together with the overwhelming responses to the various other prime properties such as Setia Sky Residences, St Mary, Verticas Residensi and a host of others, the KL property market is poised for some good rebound from the current slumps. It was also announced that NAZA TTDI will be developing the massive RM16billion Matrade land along Jalan Duta - whereby they will build the convention centre in exchange.

The new convention centre.

The month of November also saw the new Maxis IPO, which was oversubscribed. Various other large scaled corporate deals in the region also include the billion-dollar rights issue by Singapore's CapitaLand. All these news are signs that the economy is slowly picking up - and we shall expect a good cap to 2009, and welcome 2010 with open arms!