Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd (MRCB) has won the bid to develop the first parcel of land in the massive Kwasa Damansara project that is being positioned as the largest township development in the Klang Valley.
In an announcement yesterday, MRCB said it had won a competitive tender to develop 64 acres in the former Rubber Research Institute (RRI) estate that measures some 2,330 acres.
“The 64 acres, called Project MX-1, is a parcel of mixed development and under the master layout plan has been earmarked to be the town centre of the proposed Kwasa Damansara township,” said MRCB in a statement to Bursa Malaysia.
MRCB, whose major shareholder is the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), beat five other property developers to win the mandate to develop Project MX-1 that has an estimated gross development value of RM7bil.
The five that had put in competing bids were Guocoland Malaysia Bhd, Putrajaya Holdings Sdn Bhd, S P Setia Bhd, UEM Sunrise Bhd and YTL Corp Bhd.
“Upon receiving the offer bid, we are now working towards finalising the definitive agreement for this project,” said MRCB.
In a separate statement, Kwasa Land Sdn Bhd, the master developer of the RRI land, said the offer to MRCB was conditional upon the developer signing a definitive agreement within 30 days of receiving the offer letter.
“The evaluation exercise was carried out by an independent advisory panel led by Raine & Horne International Zaki & Partners Sdn Bhd and supported by AJM Planning Urban Design Group, Perunding Hashim and Neh Sdn Bhd, ARH Jurukur Bahan Sdn Bhd and a few other leading consultants.
“The criteria for the evaluation was based on financial, technical and commercial considerations,” said Kwasa Land managing director Mohd Lotfy Mohd Noh in the statement.
Kwasa Land is wholly owned by the EPF and had acquired the RRI land from the Government for RM2.28bil in 2012.
Mohd Lotfy said the bidding process for project MX-1 was comprehensive and “on an open competitive basis”.
The six companies were shortlisted from a group of 20 tier-1 developers that had been identified for the project back in March.
These included Bandar Raya Developments Bhd, Bandar Utama City Corp Sdn Bhd, DRB-Hicom Bhd, Eastern & Oriental Bhd, Gamuda Bhd, Goldis Bhd, IJM Land Bhd, IOI Properties Bhd, I&P Group Sdn Bhd, Mah Sing Group Bhd, Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Selangor, Sunway Bhd, Tropicana Corp Bhd and WCT Bhd.
These tier-1 developers are large-scale companies with shareholders’ funds or paid-up capital of RM1bil and above.
Under the qualitative evaluations, bidders were required to submit development concepts and layout proposals for the MX-1 parcel based on approved plot ratio, development phasing and the unique features of the proposal, complete with the overall planning layout, three-dimensional massing and landscape plans.
The whole development within the MX-1 land is expected to be fully completed within 12 years. Under the quantitative evaluation, tenderers were required to submit the tender price on a per-square-foot basis along with their financial feasibility analysis.
“It benefits from a well-connected network of four expressways, two MRT stations and close proximity to the SkyPark air terminal. The MX-1 development is envisaged to spur the catalytic growth of this entire township,” said Kwasa Land.
“Moving forward, Kwasa Land is also scheduled to invite tier-3 bumiputra developers for the inaugural bumiputra development and tier-2 developers for a residential development by the third and fourth quarters of 2014, respectively.”
The tier-2 developers are those with RM300mil and above in shareholders’ funds or paid-up capital, while tier-3 developers are bumiputra companies of RM1mil and above.
The Kwasa Damansara project is expected to be carried out over the next 20 years and is set to become the first major township development within the fringes of the city to be complete with public transport infrastructure. It will be built to cater for at least 150,000 people.
