Wednesday, November 20, 2013

More land swap deals in pipeline

By Sharen Kaur

 THERE will be more land swap deals between the public and private sectors in a drive to increase government revenue, which is currently at RM220 billion a year.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar said besides reducing subsidies and introducing the goods and services tax, land swap is a good bet to improve the income base.

"There are parcels of land not suitable for the government because their value has gone up considerably. We will call for tenders and get developers to come in with the best plans and pricing," he said at the Public Private Partnership (PPP) conference, here, yesterday.

Wahid said under such deals, the private sector will build public facilities, such as army camps and hospitals, which will result in huge savings for the government.

"Land swap is a continuous effort. A developer can develop and commercialise the land and in return, the government will have surplus cash to fund other projects." In the past two years, major land deals have taken place in the Klang Valley.

SP Setia Bhd won a deal to build the 1National Institute of Health and apartments in Setia Alam, Selangor, in exchange for 21.2ha of land in Bangsar. It will also build a polyclinic and dental clinic in Bangsar, and pay the government RM217.11 million - the premium guaranteed profit for the proposed mixed development.

Primamuda Holdings Sdn Bhd got the old Brickfields district police headquarters land in exchange for building police stations in Jalan Travers.

On the PPP, Wahid said between 1983 and this year, 611 projects were implemented, saving the government RM182.5 billion.

"Under the 2014 Budget, the government has announced several infrastructure projects. PPP will come in for this," he added.

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