Pocket of opportunities in local market this year

(File pix) There will be pockets of opportunities in the local property market this year, predicts Knight Frank. Pix by Nurul Shafina Jemenon

 

By NST Property - Published January 24, 2019 

 

THE property market in Penang could be heading upwards. According to Knight Frank Penang executive director Tay Tam, the first phase of the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP), which comprises the Pan Island Link highway, the Bayan Lepas light rail transit system and several major roads, is set to proceed. He expects completion of the PTMP will boost connectivity in Penang, which will, in turn, be favourable for the property market.
“The industrial and office property markets in Penang are poised to continue their favourable performance. In contrast, the retail market is expected to be more competitive this year due to the entry of new space such as IKEA Batu Kawan,” Tam said. The IKEA Batu Kawan building is scheduled to complete early this year. Coming up by the end of next year is the expansion of Sunway Carnival mall and a year later, Gem Mall.
Aside from retail offerings, Penang island will see new office towers being completed, such as Sunshine Tower and Penang Times Square Phase 3 and 4. Tam anticipates that the residential market will likely show some signs of improvement moving forward, with the landed housing market expected to outperform other segments.
 In Johor Baru, robust investment activities have continued, according to Knight Frank Johor branch head Debbie Choy. She said as of the third quarter of 2018, the economic region of Iskandar Malaysia recorded cumulative investment of RM272.90 billion. “This is a testament that robust investment activities are still present in the region. Amid a challenging market, the industrial property sub-sector is still expected to fare well as investments in the logistics and manufacturing sector remain at a healthy level.”
Choy said landed houses with reasonable prices of RM400,000 to RM500,000 are expected to fare well among buyers. The property market in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, meanwhile, remained highly competitive.
Alexel Chan, executive director at Knight Frank Kota Kinabalu, said during the second half of last year, there were fewer launches of residential properties as developers sought to review and reposition their products amid a highly competitive market.
“With the residential sector being plagued by rising supply, continued growth in Sabah’s tourism and hospitality sector, coupled with the government’s commitment to delivering the Pan Borneo Highway project, are bright spots for Kota Kinabalu’s property market this year,” he said.

WILL ALL MARKET SEGMENTS DO BETTER?

Knight Frank’s Real Estate Highlights 2nd Half of 2018, launched recently, reports some improvement in the residential property market.
Knight Frank Malaysia associate director of residential sales and leasing, Kelvin Yip, said despite the challenging market environment, market enquiries and activities in the residential property market increased in the second half of last year.
Post-14th General Election, confidence levels had improved in the residential sector, he said.
“In line with improving market sentiment, developers had become more optimistic and we saw more launches during the second half of 2018.”
This year, Knight Frank expects to see more motivated sellers and discerning buyers to be present in the residential market. “Various policies announced in the 2019 Budget designed to aid first-time house buyers are also expected to kick-start the housing market this year and beyond. Malaysia’s residential properties will continue to be attractive in the eyes of foreign buyers as a result of our liberal policies and reasonable valuations, coupled with no extra stamp duties,” said Yip.
The report reveals that industrial properties are moving towards sizeable scale and come with higher specifications. Good examples will be Area Logistics @ Ampang at Ulu Kelang Free Trade Zone (FTZ) and Century Logistics’ headquarters in Bandar Bukit Raja, Klang.
Other incoming supplies include a warehouse for Nippon Express in Shah Alam and Galazy Logistics Hub in Kuala Selangor. “Manufacturing and logistics operators seek to centralise their operations and improve their business capacities,” said Knight Frank.
Knight Frank Malaysia executive director of capital markets, Allan Sim said: “In 2019, we anticipate a higher level of land banking activities among industrial property developers. This is because strong latent demand continues to be omnipresent, especially for industrial properties with high specifications, as occupiers understand the need to jump onto the Industry 4.0 bandwagon in order to future-proof their businesses. “This presents a unique opportunity for developers and investors alike to gain attractive monetary returns by providing end-users with the right products.”
He said moving forward, the company expects to see new large-scale industrial developments taking shape in strategic locations due to robust demand for warehouses. For example, the proposed FTZ in Pulau Indah, unveiled recently by the government, is expected to generate interest from manufacturers and logistics operators.
As for established industrial parks, Knight Frank Malaysia continued to see redevelopment of debilitated factories into multi-storey facilities as a means to mitigate high land costs. “All in all, Malaysia’s industrial property sector, which has been the silver lining for Malaysia’s subdued property market in recent years, is set to continue its resilience.”
The industrial and office property markets in Penang are poised to continue their favourable performance.
In contrast, the retail market is expected to be more competitive this year.
Meanwhile, the office market saw no significant change in rental although certain sub-markets experienced a slight decline in occupancy during the second half of 2018.
Knight Frank Malaysia executive director of corporate services Teh Young Khean said occupancies in selected sub-office markets this year are expected to be under pressure due to heightened competition from impending and existing office stock while rentals will continue to hold steady as newer buildings tend to command higher rates.
“We continue to observe active enquiries and leasing activities in the co-working and IT (information technology)-related segments. Also, an increasing number of older buildings are looking into repositioning and refurbishment to meet current occupier needs,” he said.
Knight Frank Malaysia associate director of retail leasing and consultancy Rebecca Phan said as the retail market remains challenging, malls are seen taking proactive measures to create new experiences in order to remain relevant.
She said vis-a-vis the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax in 2015, the introduction of Sales and Service Tax had not significantly dampened consumer spending, with the consumer sentiment index remaining at expansionary levels.
This serves as a boon for the retail market amid the current challenging environment, added Phan.

BCorp mulls asset sales, unit listing

 

 

Berjaya Corp Bhd is expected to sell the Four Seasons Hotel and Hotel Residences Kyoto in the next three months. Courtesy Photo

 

By Sharen Kaur - Published in NST Property on January 24, 2019

 

BERJAYA Corp Bhd (BCorp), which is controlled by founder and executive chairman Tan Sri Vincent Tan, has major plans for this year, including the sale of several assets abroad and the potential listing of its hotel business.
According to Tan, the group wants to dispose of some assets in order to fund various projects in the pipeline and to manage its debt-to-equity ratio.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s a trophy asset or not, as long as the profit is good, we will sell them. Everything is for sale at the right prices,” he said.
Tan was speaking at a signing ceremony between Berjaya Okinawa Development Co Ltd and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts Asia Pacific Pte Ltd here last week.
The partnership is for a new hotel development in Okinawa, Japan, called Four Seasons Resort and Private Residences.
Tan said in the next three months, BCorp may sell the Four Seasons Hotel and Hotel Residences Kyoto in Japan, which officially opened in 2016.
“We are still talking to several parties. We hope to get the best ‘high’ price as it is a ‘trophy asset’,” he said.
It has been reported that the group is expected to net US$300 million to US$400 million (RM1.23 billion to RM1.65 billion) from the hotel sale.
The Four Seasons Hotel Kyoto is touted as the best hotel in Kyoto and the top three in Japan.
It boasts an average rate of US$1,500 per night. The Four Seasons Resort and Private Residences, a four-year development and currently under construction, may also be sold in the future, said Tan.
He expects the entire property to to be worth US$1 billion upon its full completion.
BCorp’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Berjaya Land Bhd (BLand) is undertaking the US$400 million development in Okinawa, where it has a total landbank of 40.5ha. Of the total, 12ha is for the Four Seasons Hotels and Residents and the rest is for future development.
BLand, which may be taken private by Tan, bought the land along the western coast of the Okinawa Island in 2009 at a low rate and without borrowings.
Tan said BCorp could potentially reap better pricing value of about US$600 million from the development, leveraging the group’s experience in partnering with the top premium hotel brands such as Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.
“Okinawa is a good market. I’m sure the prestigious Four Seasons branding and management, along with its strategic location in central Okinawa, will make the hotel one of the best on the island of Okinawa.”
The hotel was expected to have a minimum rate of US$1,000 per night.
Tan said he was also looking to list the hotel business under BLand but has yet to finalise the decision as the company is still in talks with some minority partners.
BCorp reportedly had planned to carve out the hotel business from BLand and list it in Singapore Stock Exchange.
The group owns several hotels in Malaysia, Japan, Vietnam, the United Kingdom, the Philippines, Seychelles and Sri Lanka, which according to industry expects, are worth over RM2 billion collectively.

Improvement plans for Kampung Kerinchi

(File pix) UOA has named its development Bangsar South City, which consists of Grade A office towers, medium to high-end residential units, service suites and retail shops. Pix by NSTP/Nurul Syazana Rose Razman

 

By Sharen Kaur - Published January 24, 2019

 

IN the past week, Kampung Kerinchi in Kuala Lumpur has been in the spotlight once again in the Malaysian real estate industry.
About a year ago Lembah Pantai Member of Parliament (MP), Fahmi Fadzil, had asked for Bangsar South to revert to its original name, Kampung Kerinchi. This request was made during a meeting with Kuala Lumpur MPs andMayor Tan Sri Mohd Amin Nordin Abdul Aziz.
This news had the real estate community buzzing and many people wanted to know whether it would affect property value in the area.
Opinions were varied and divided. There was also a debate whether Kampung Kerinchi was in the first place officially renamed Bangsar South in 2012.
Bangsar South, in fact, is the name of the development that was created by UOA Development Bhd. It did not change Kampung Kerinchi to Bangsar South. It named its development Bangsar South.
In 2010, UOA Holdings Sdn Bhd then general manager David Khor Soo Beng was quoted by an English daily as saying that the development was called Bangsar South City because it shared the same postcode with Bangsar even though the location was in Kampung Kerinchi.
Fahmi has been working hard to restore the area’s name back to Kampung Kerinchi — a pledge he first made during his campaign trails.
Last week, Fahmi along with dignitaries from the government, Parti Keadilan Rakyat president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar made an official announcement during a launch event in Kampung Kerinchi that the area will no longer be known as Bangsar South. It will be known as Kampung Kerinchi.
“There is a rich history here in Kampung Kerinchi. Why should we be ashamed that it is called ‘kampung’ (village)? Many great people come from here, we should not push aside our roots,” said Fahmi at the event.
In a Facebook posting dated January 20, Fahmi wrote that some people, including the media, have misunderstood or not seen clearly what the proclamation of Kampung Kerinchi means.
Fahmi said the name Bangsar South is not being “wiped out” in the dramatic fashion that some media have put in their headlines.
He clarified that Bangsar South, Pantai Hillpark, Taman Bukit Angkasa, LRT Universiti, KL Gateway Mall, Angkasapuri, PPR Kg Kerinchi, Vista Angkasa and many more are all subsets of (i.e. geographically within) Kampung Kerinchi.

HISTORY OF KAMPUNG KERINCHI

Kampung Kerinchi is located in Pantai Dalam, Kuala Lumpur. In its heyday, it had a big settlement of squatters comprising locals as well as immigrants from Jambi, Sumatra in Indonesia.
Kampung Kerinchi took its name from Kerinchi in the Jambi district. The area was founded by Haji Abdullah Hukum, who arrived in Malaya with his wife and children during hard times, and a group of Sumatrans from Kerinchi. They settled in Kampung Kerinchi and planted pineapples, padi and fruits to survive.
In 1990s, the Kuala Lumpur City Hall decided to develop the area, building low-cost flats and middle-cost apartments.
Some of the squatter settlements were demolished and the residents moved to the new flats in 1993.
In the following years, UOA came to Kampung Kerinchi. They started buying land in 2005 and constructed commercial and residential towers.
UOA named its development Bangsar South City, which today consists of Grade A office towers, medium to high-end residential units, service suites and retail shops.
Bangsar South was developed on a residential plot which comprised Kampung Kerinchi and Seri Angkasa leasehold flats, and Vista Angkasa apartments.
Another development in Kampung Kerinchi is the KL Gateway, developed by Suez Domain and linked to the Universiti light rail transit station.
This mixed development comprises residences, corporate towers and a mall.

IMPROVEMENTS FOR KAMPUNG KERINCHI FOLKS?

Beyond the renaming, there are plans to improve Kampung Kerinchi, according to Fahmi’s Facebook posting.
He listed a few things that have been lined up for rollout, including the construction of three arches or sculptures to mark entrance into Kampung Kerinchi.
There will also be a review by City Hall, traffic consultants and his office of Jalan Kerinchi, Jalan Pantai Murni and Jalan Pantai Permai as well as a portion of the cross junction above the Federal Highway to increase the level of service (LoS) of these roads.
“There will be rerouting, road-widening and construction of multi-storey carparks,” he said.
A few small-scale projects are also in the plan to cater for the increased population expected in the next 10 to 20 years.
This includes expediting the completion of the new building for SMK Seri Pantai in Jalan Kerinchi, which according to Fahmi, has been delayed by three years, building a new Klinik Kesihatan (Jenis 2) in Kampung Kerinchi/Pantai Dalam and two new schools in Kampung Kerinchi.
“There’s also a plan to build a new People’s Housing Project (PPR) in Kampung Kerinchi/Pantai Dalam. We will also introduce a free GoKL bus service for Malaysian citizens in Kampung Kerinchi and Pantai Dalam,” he said.
Other exciting events lined up for Kampung Kerinchi folks are “Ini Kerinchi Lah!” arts and culture festival that will take place this year or in 2020, providing more free health clinics throughout Kg Kerinchi and Taman Seri Sentosa (south of Old Klang Road, which is still under Lembah Pantai), and creating a Kebun-Kebun Kerinchi and a Kebun-Kebun Sentosa, based on the Kebun-Kebun Bangsar model.

Property investment: 5 main risk factors

(File pix) There are a few million units of properties in Malaysia, but not all properties make a good investment. Archive image for illustration purposes only

 

By NST Property - Published January 24, 2019 

 

PROPERTY has long been a favourable investment option for many in Malaysia. The number of property investors in the country has been growing for the past two decades as more people seek better financial future for themselves.
Average Malaysians will look for properties such as houses (single/double-storey terrace/link), apartments/condominiums, retail space, shoplots or land. There are literally a few million units of such properties in Malaysia, but not all real estate make a good investment.
There are many criteria to look at when choosing a real estate, such as location, reputation of the developer, type of property, pricing, accessibility, infrastructure and public amenities.
There are also many different strategies for investors on how to choose the best property for investment. For example, some people look for yields or cash flow, while others eye capital growth potential over the long term.
According to PropertyGuru Malaysia, like other investments, real estate does not come without risks. Return on investment is never truly guaranteed, thus understanding the types of investment risks in the market is crucial.
“Property investing in Malaysia has created some impressive success stories over recent decades, with a market that has broadly offered favourable opportunities, particularly in the resilient residential sector.
“Buying investment property is, however, no sure thing... So, in order to help you understand the challenges, we’ve put together some property investment advice and potential risks for you to look out for,” said its country manager Sheldon Fernandez.
Here are five key areas of risks to assess before investing in the property sector.

1. PRICES ARE IMPACTED BY COMPLEX FACTORS

While some may view property investment as a sure-fire success story, there are multiple factors which decide if this is really the case.
Understanding these risks is crucial but often complex. Location is a key component. Take a single-storey terraced house in Bangsar, with an price of RM375,000 in 2001. Thanks to growing interest in the area, the house could have valued at about RM1.27 million in 2017, a capital appreciation of 239 per cent.
“This kind of return may make you enthusiastic about investing in property, but the same return can’t be guaranteed in another area. Do your research and understand that risks vary from location to location.
“Property prices are subject to both economic and political shocks. While the circumstances may show a favourable environment for your investment, you need to take into account wider investment risks when considering your opportunity. That means understanding your financial capacity to cope with shocks if they occur,” he said.

2. OUTLOOK CHANGES FROM YEAR TO YEAR

Historical property prices can be a good indicator of return in a particular area, but it’s important not to fall into the trap of assuming that trend will continue. Property investment this year may look a great deal different than it did in 2011 when Malaysia’s property sector enjoyed a period of substantial growth.
Fernandez said property prices tend to travel in cycles, with Malaysia currently experiencing a mild downturn. The current residential landscape is influenced by a significant “property overhang” - essentially when houses have been completed but remain unsold for more than nine months.
These cycles are another risk to consider when assessing exposure to the market, he said.

3. RENTAL RETURNS CAN BE TRICKY

Rental return is an important part of the equation when it comes to assessing the financial viability of many property investments.
According to the Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents (MIEA), properties in the Klang Valley could expect an average annual rental return of around three per cent. But an average is not a guarantee.
Fernandez said finding tenants is a challenge and you should factor in the risk of a period of zero-rental return on your cash flow. Your rental property may still enjoy capital appreciation without a tenant, but it won’t assist your short-term cash flow if nobody is paying the rent.
“Repairs and unforeseen costs to a property should also be considered, something that can significantly offset the value returned by a rental property for a given period. You need to factor these potential risks into your cash flow when thinking about investing.”

4. LOAN VALUES IMPACT YOUR ECONOMICS

According to Fernandez, this is a particularly important risk for buy-to-let investors looking to take loans to cover a property purchase. The same economic factors which impact your considerations about property investment and rental returns would also impact your loans.
If you’ve taken out an interest-variable loan to purchase property, you need to be aware of the risk that the repayments on that loan could increase above the return you gain on your property, he said.
“Always consider the potential for interest rates to change when calculating the economics of taking out a loan to purchase a property.”

5. YOUR CAPITAL IS TIED UP

Property is not often an easily divested asset and is generally considered a long-term investment, with minimum five-year time horizons often cited for significant capital return.
If you’re seeking a quick return on investment, or envision a situation where your financial circumstances require an immediate liquidation of your assets, you may find your capital locked into a property and exposed to the challenges of the current market environment.

Transit-oriented plan for Kempas

(File pix) The Kempas town. Chongkian/Wikipedia Photo

 

By NST PROPERTY - Published January 17, 2019

 

RAILWAY Assets Corp (RAC) has identified nine parcels of railway land for transit-oriented development (TOD) and transit-supportive development (TSD), says its general manager Azhar Ahmad.
RAC, which is a corporation under the Transport Ministry, hopes to start the projects within the next two to four years.
Azhar said the corporation is open to joint ventures with local developers via long-term land lease or land swap.
RAC would also accept proposals from developers and offers for outright sale for some parcels of the land, he told NST Property, adding that tenders would be called for the projects.
Azhar said all proposals would be reviewed from technical aspects and cost-benefit analysis for the projects.
“We have to ensure that there is a proper planning so the projects will benefit the public, the government and RAC. Proposals for development projects must be based on high investment returns to the government and RAC.”
Among the biggest developments that the corporation will embark on is in Kempas, Johor.
Kempas, a suburb in Johor Baru, is a huge town area on the way to Senai.
One of the biggest developers in Kempas is IOI Properties Group Bhd, which is developing Taman Kempas Utama via subsidiary Wealthy Growth Sdn Bhd.
Taman Kempas Utama, located within the Kempas-Tebrau growth corridor, features lifestyle amenities such as a 1.54ha townpark, gated-and-guarded residential communities and matured commercial hubs.
Azhar said RAC owns about 50.59ha of land in Kempas and plans to develop a township that may take 15 to 20 years to be fully completed.
“We are planning to develop a project, which may be called Kempas Sentral. It will be a replica of the KL Sentral integrated transport hub.
We are looking at a combination of TOD and TSD concept for this development.
TOD is a type of urban development that maximises the amount of residential, business and leisure space within walking distance to public transport.

(File pix) The project in Kempas will replicate the KL Sentral development in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur. Klsentral.com.my Photo

 

KL Sentral in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, is the first TOD in Malaysia that started in 2001.
The concept has expanded to other developments such as Cyberjaya CityCentre, PJ Sentral, Bangsar South, Kuala Lumpur Maju in Sungai Besi and Tropicana Garden in Kota Damansara.
The TODs are linked to public transportation systems such as mass rapid transit, light rail transit or KTM stations.
A TSD makes the transit station a community destination. It creates a pedestrian-oriented environment and prioritises non-auto forms of transportation while accommodating cars.
Azhar said there are plans for landed and high-rise residential, as well as commercial offerings on the Kempas land.
“We are looking at offices, affordable to high-end houses and apartments, retail, hotels and a transit hub. The estimated gross development value is about RM6 billion. We think Kempas has the right ingredients in terms of infrastructure to be a successful transport hub.”
Kempas is home to Starhill Golf & Country Club and Kempas Medical Centre.
The town is a short distance from Woodlands Checkpoint and Johor Premium Outlets. It is easily accessible via major highways such as the North-South Expressway, Pasir Gudang Highway and Eastern Dispersal Link.

RAC: Best time to redevelop rail land

(File pix) The Abdullah Hukum LRT Station at KL Eco City is the first completed transit-oriented development by Railway Assets Corp in a joint venture with SP Setia Bhd.

 

By Sharen Kaur - Published in NST Property on January 17, 2019

 

THE KTM Bhd (KTMB) quarters in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur, will finally undergo redevelopment and the new project will have an estimated gross development value (GDV) of RM3 billion.
According to Railway Assets Corp (RAC) general manager Azhar Ahmad, the corporation is planning a mixed-used transit-oriented development (TOD) on the 5.26ha freehold land.
“Currently occupying the land are quarters that were home to over 1,000 KTM Bhd workers. We are looking at unlocking the value of the land with a reputable developer. There is so much potential right now with land scarcity in the Bangsar area... This is the best time to start the redevelopment.
“We will call for the best proposals from developers this year. We want to maximise the land use since it is 13 acres (5.26ha).
“We are looking at building two hotels, office towers, are tail mall and affordable houses that include apartments. The affordable homes will sell from RM350,000.Ahotel will do well there as the location is just a stop away from KL Sentral via the Bank Rakyat-Bangsar LRT station,”Azhar told NST Property.
He said the redevelopment may take about 10 years for full completion and expects it to start this year or in 2020.
The Bangsar land is part of the nine parcels of land that RAC has identified for redevelopment — mostly to be based on the TOD concept.
RAC has experience in TOD developments with the completion of a project with SP Setia Bhd for the Abdullah Hukum light rail transit station in KL Eco City.
RAC also has started a TOD venture with MKH Bhd for Kajang 2, a new township located in the vicinity of Kajang, Selangor.

RAC RICH WITH VALUABLE LAND

RAC owns 15,378ha of land along the KTM railways and in prime areas. Some 80 per cent of the land has been used to build 1,650km of tracks from Padang Besar to Johor Baru and Tumpat to Gemas, 170 stations, 16 depots and warehouses.
Only 20 per cent comprising railway reserve and title land has potential to be developed.
Azhar has said RAC can develop the reserve land and is working with the respective states to get the title and develop the land along the tracks.
RAC plans to undertake TODs and transit supportive developments (TSD) to enable the corporation to re-invest in the railway industry and improve railway stations and tracks, as well as help KTMB buy rolling stock and do maintenance for the existing assets.
The corporation owns assets worth RM17.09 billion. They include land, infrastrucure, buildings, rolling stock, office equipment, machinery and ticketing system.
One of the most exciting projects for RAC is the land next to Bank Negara Malaysia which will be developed via a joint venture with developers.
RAC has a 2.8ha plot adjacent to the central bank and it plans to build office towers, institutions and training centres.
According to Azhar, the project will take about five years to be fully developed.
“The estimated GDV for this development is about RM1.5 billion. We will sell and lease the buildings for recurring income. We are quite upbeat on this development due to its location next to Bank Negara.”
RAC will also developa1.2ha site in Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, and 5.7ha in Bukit Mertajam in Seberang Prai, Penang, in partnership with developers.
The Ampang land is located behind Glenagles Kuala Lumpur and will have a standalone development, said Azhar.
“We are looking at developing two towers with a plot ratio of seven. There will be more than 1,000 units of apartments and the expected GDV is around RM1.5 billion.”
In Bukit Mertajam, RAC is planning a TOD that consists of office towers, hotels, retail and apartments.
Azhar said the project would have a GDV of RM1.5 billion and take between five and 10 years to be fully developed.

A TSD FOR SHAH ALAM?

RAC owns 5.3ha of land in Batu 3, Shah Alam, and is looking at a TSD-based project.
“A TSD focuses on community living. It creates a pedestrian-oriented environment. The land we have is sandwiched between Bukit Subang Jaya and Batu 3 rail stations. It has high potential for apartments and commercial (offerings) but the focus will be on residential development. The idea is to bring the community together for a healthy lifestyle,” said Azhar.
He said the project is expected to take three to five years to develop with an estimated GDV of RM500 million.
“There are so many options to work along with developers. We will study the best option for the development,” added Azhar.

PropertyGuru: Need to further define RPGT

(File pix) Sellers are expected to be under pressure to factor in the five per cent RPGT into their absolute selling prices. Archive image for illustration purposes

 

By NST Property - Published January 17, 2019 

 

REAL Property Gain Tax (RPGT) is a good mechanism to curb market speculation. However, its objectives need to be better defined, says PropertyGuru Malaysia country manager Sheldon Fernandez.
“Is it a means for the government to generate revenue? Or will its primary purpose to prevent market overheating and quick rises in property prices be retained? The objectives must be clearly defined,” he said.
Fernandez said buying sentiment in Malaysia has largely been driven by owner-occupiers and long-term investors, noting that speculators, by and large, have exited the Malaysian market post the many cooling measures imposed gradually from 2010 and onwards.
He said there is little justification for the RPGT imposition as a means to curb speculation when such activity is hardly rampant in Malaysia today.
RPGT is a tax chargeable on the profit gained from the disposal of a property and is payable to the Inland Revenue Board. As such, it is only applicable to a seller. It was suspended in 2008-2009 but reintroduced in 2010.
A chargeable gain is the profit when the disposal price is more than the purchase price. The tax applies to both residents and non-residents.
If the disposal price is lower than the acquisition price, there is no profit gained and therefore no RPGT is payable.
Starting January 1, Malaysians who sell their property in the sixth (and subsequent) year of ownership will have to pay a five per cent RPGT.
Previously, homeowners who sold their properties after the fifth year of ownership were not required to pay RPGT on the profits earned.
For foreigners and companies, they will have to pay 10 per cent. This was announced during the 2019 Budget tabling in November last year.
Fernandez expects sellers to be under pressure to factor in the five per cent RPGT into their absolute selling prices.
“This will be on top of real estate agent fees, legal fees and other costs. But can sellers really raise prices amid a down-trending market? The situation is certainly challenging for many post2019. It does not have any major stimulus impact for buyers as well.
“The whole idea of RPGT is to curb quick selling of properties by flippers or speculators, to control market prices. It was not really meant to be a revenue stream for the government, which, if anything, was only a secondary objective. Hence, by having five per cent in perpetuity, we have in effect moved away from the original purpose of curbing major price increases to taxing the rakyat on their hard-earned investment gains.
“If this is the case, why only properties? Other investment instruments and asset classes should also be taxed for gains. In fact, in encouraging greater public transportation usage, perhaps purchase and sales of cars could be taxed, with either car manufacturers or buyers or both being taxed and the funds channelled to the government coffers,” he said.
On the five per cent RPGT contribution to the government, Fernandez said it would certainly boost the government coffers.
“Real estate transactions are usually substantial in overall sum of the sale and purchase price. But whether it will have a positive effect on the market, that remains a question, (answer of which) we may have by end-2019, if not sooner.
“If perhaps, the five per cent (RPGT) is used to subsidise affordable or public housing, a case can be made for it. But, even this may be a point of contention as the rakyat may feel it is unfair that their hard-earned funds are being used to subsidise public housing when the onus is on the government, its relevant ministries and agencies as well as the private sector to resolve this issue,” said Fernandez.

IoT benefits, challenges for property management

(File pix) The Internet of Things (IoT) is poised to shake up the property management sector in Malaysia. Courtesy Photo

 

By NST Property - Published January 17, 2019

 

THE Internet of Things (IoT) is poised to shake up the property management sector in Malaysia, says Zerin Properties managing director and founder Previndran Singhe.
He said IoT’s impact on property management alone is expected to be very big ― Gartner estimates more than US$1 billion (RM4.1 billion) spending in the United States, and that’s only for commercial assets.
“Zerin Properties has always taken pride in being ahead of the technology curve in the property industry... from our award-winning websites to our award-winning apps and now to embracing the IoT. Still, IoT will not necessarily lead to overnight success for property management players in Malaysia and other members of the sector. I think we are far from it,” he told NST Property.
Previndran said in Malaysia where most property management professionals are still struggling with a mix of outdated legacy systems, lagging technology and unconnected assets, it will take a while for the IoT to take full effect.
“Does that mean it’s not worth the investment? Of course, not. What it means is that Malaysian property managers and management companies will face challenges as they prepare for this foreseeable dive into the property management world of the IoT.” Some of the challenges include:

IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES BETWEEN THOUGHT LEADERS AND OPERATIONS

With the advent of any technology disruptor, companies must deal wi th changing management issues. Thought leaders and operational management teams in a company will sometimes be at conflict when it comes to implementing IoT devices for properties.
Many leaders may want to purchase the latest technology as soon as it hits the market, but operational management teams may not want to implement it due to lack of knowledge, or spend money in it.
As IoT devices have a short shelf life, this could be an issue for operational teams who are accustomed to purchasing technologies that last for years if not decades. As such, one will have to find the balance between obtaining a new technology and leveraging existing ones.
The choice would mostly depend on whether an IoT device could solve problems and make a bigger impact on employees and processes.
Previndran cited a device that measures water quality in condominium swimming pools as an example.
He said in today’s environment, suppliers would insist on cleaning the pool 12 times a month on a fixed fee, even though the quality of their service cannot be determined prior to cleaning.
“We have seen the number (and cost) drop by half by implementing IoT devices in the pool and this benefits everyone in the service chain.
But what would happen in a year or so when new and potentially better devices or software are available?
“As always a cost-benefit analysis with the help of both leadership and operational management teams to determine if (and when) a new upgrade would make an impact that’s worth the investment,” he said.

SKILLS

Previndran said: “In many cases in Malaysia, we are managing a mix pool of colleagues―baby boomers about to complete their journey in the industry and the millennial who have just entered it. All would have their own approach and learning curve when it comes to preparing for the complex processes of the IoT ― and their willingness to embrace it.
“The IoT is meant to simplify and make property management more efficient. But adopting it also means abandoning quality control processes, by trusting sensors and machines to determine when other machines need scheduled maintenance, and using data to make decisions that used to be made by people in the management office. It’s a complete change from the way business has been done in the past in Malaysia.”
He said using IoT vendors to conduct training and continuous education would prove that employees are just as important now as they were before the new technology was implemented.
“Leadership can help change mindsets by reassuring employees that they are not obsolete in the connected property management service chain.”

DATA, DATA AND DATA.

Previndran said one of the biggest strengths of IoT is indisputably the exponentially larger amount of data it makes available.
These data contain valuable pieces of information for the management of a building.
However, simply collating them is insufficient. Raw data collected from sensors throughout the building may be incomplete, insufficient or inaccurate. All these disparate data have to be properly accounted for and managed if a property management player expects to make fast and well-informed decisions, fix potential issues and capitalise on the data’s full value.
Accomplishing this requires much more than basic data access. It requires using essential data management utilities to handle all information that is part of property management process.
“Only when this happens will connected property management players be able to rely on sophisticated analytics for insights that help them make better decisions, plus giving them a much-needed competitive edge.
Still, very few local leaders feel they have a clear vision on how to implement the IoT on a large scale across the property management process. Connected leaders need to ask: Do they have the process ― and the right people and technology ― in place for using all of that data? Does their team know the right questions to ask ― and the right trends to look for in all the new sources of real-time data?”

BALANCING ACT FOR PROPERTY MANAGERS

Previndran said digital revolution has put Malaysia’s property management segment in exciting times.
“With patience and passion to face the immediate challenges, we are assured to realise the many benefits of IoT in property management. There is very little to lose and all to gain for those that jump in head first to ensure competitive advantage.
“Take See Hoy Chan (Bhd), which has one of the biggest in-house FM (facilities management) services in the country, for example. It has added sensors to its landscape irrigation that transmit vital information ― such as rain fall and moisture content ― to a central hub. A team of employees can now manage issues as soon as they arise, regardless of the parks or landscaped areas’ location. As a result, the parks and landscaped areas require less manual inspection and are thriving with consistently correct levels of water,” he said.
Previndran said many leaders still have to grapple with a major skill gap among their colleagues, in terms of IoT implementation, adding that security will remain a top concern in connecting different parts of a company’s infrastructure to the digital world.

Can satellite data help monitor sustainable rural development?

by Sue Palminteri on 17 January 2019

• Rural residents in lower-income countries rely on natural resources for part of their livelihood, so a team of researchers explored whether farm-scale environmental characteristics obtained from satellite imagery could help assess and monitor rural poverty.
• Researchers found that integrating satellite data at four spatial scales could predict the poorest households across a landscape in Kenya with 62 percent accuracy, despite differences in how individual households interacted with the surrounding environment.
• The size of buildings within a homestead, the amount of bare agricultural land within and adjacent to the homestead, and the length of the growing season were the best predictors of the wealth of a given household.
• The researchers suggest that the increasing availability of high-resolution satellite data will enable their method to be better able to monitor progress toward meeting the sustainable development goals.

Spatial data from satellites are now fine-scale enough to provide land use and vegetation cover information at the level of individual farms. An international team of researchers examined the potential of remotely sensed satellite data to help monitor rural poverty in lower-income countries. They found that certain local environmental features, including agricultural land uses, are related to the level of wealth of households and villages and can be quantified by satellite data.

A reliance on natural resources

Imagery taken from satellites helps scientists map the Earth’s surface. Using these images, scientists quantify different types of land cover, distinguishing areas of forest from those dominated by scrub, grassland, crops, or water.  By analyzing satellite data from different time periods, researchers assess changes in vegetation cover across the globe.

Rural residents in lower-income countries rely on natural resources for food, fuel, building materials, and medicines. Loss of these resources is likely associated with lower socioeconomic circumstances. Some features of environmental resources, such as the size of a woodland or its proximity to a road, can be obtained from satellite imagery.
Governments in many countries traditionally monitor national well-being through on-the-ground household surveys. These surveys are often expensive and time-consuming and so are usually conducted every 10 years.
The internationally agreed-upon Sustainable Development Goals, aimed at reducing poverty while protecting the environment, have spurred a search for more frequent collection of socioeconomic and environmental data to monitor countries’ progress toward achieving them.

The research team tested whether fine-scale environmental data derived from satellite imagery could shed light on a household’s socioeconomic status and the family’s interactions with the surrounding environment. Specifically, they asked whether environmental characteristics extracted from satellite data could predict household wealth and explain the differences in wealth among households of a given region without having to survey them on the ground.
“High-resolution satellite imagery is relatively cheap and collected frequently,” lead author Gary Watmough of the University of Edinburgh told Mongabay. “Satellite imagery can show us information about a landscape and the way that land is being used and how this is changing over time.”

Analyzing resource-related wealth

Wealth and income potential from the local landscape can vary among households in a single village, the authors state in their paper, so remote-sensing data need to be at a fine enough spatial scale to measure the land cover for a single farm or homestead. Analyzing environmental data solely by village or census district may bias results by masking these individual differences.

The 1,150 homesteads in the study landscape were small family compounds with several structures, gardens or woodlots, and a surrounding hedge. The researchers used responses from 231 households in a 2005 on-the-ground household survey to create a relative wealth index, which they compared to environmental information derived from a high-resolution 2004 WorldView QuickBird satellite image.
The high-resolution QuickBird satellite image data (pixels smaller than 1-by-1 meters, or 3-by-3 feet, in size) used by the current study permitted the researchers to extract the area within each homestead dedicated to grassland for grazing livestock, crop fields, bare ground, and woodlots maintained for timber and fruit, as well as roads and buildings.
The researchers analyzed the spatially referenced data on land cover and landscape features at several scales to incorporate resources used exclusively by a single household; agricultural land around the homestead shared among neighboring homesteads; the often-communal lands and water around the village; and community infrastructure in the surrounding region.

The study analyzed satellite data at four spatial scales: (A) inside an individual homestead, where environmental resources are linked to the associated household; (B) agricultural land was linked to the nearest homestead; (C) common-pool woodlands and grazing lands from which families could collect specific resources; and (D) the wider regional level, which considered access to all-weather roads (Y) and the main market center (X). Image is Figure S2 of Watmough et al. (2019), “Socioecologically informed use of remote sensing data to predict rural household poverty” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

They also estimated the size of buildings within each homestead, as a potential indicator of wealth, and extracted data on vegetation productivity and distances to roads, paths and a local market.
“We have a project running at the moment that is looking at the best ways in which remote sensing can be used to predict aspects of wellbeing,” Watmough said. “The main focus is on identifying known relationships between environmental resources and wellbeing and then working out how we can best estimate this environmental resource from satellite imagery.”
Their analyses of the remotely sensed data found that the size of buildings inside individual homesteads was the most important indicator of a family’s wealth. Bare and planted agricultural land, as well as number of growing days in the year, were other important indicators.
The poorest households had more bare soil within and around the compound, which the authors said could represent either recently harvested fields or unproductive ones.
Pixels in poorer compounds were more often in areas of shorter growing periods. The researchers examined a greenness (normalized difference vegetation index, or NDVI) time series to assess the annual growing period between 2001 and 2006. Although this information was available only at a much coarser 500-meter (1,640-foot) resolution MODIS data, Watmough said it did seem to agree with the team’s knowledge of the situation on the ground in this region.
“Poorer households work on wealthier households’ farms first, helping to prep and plant at the beginning of the season,” Watmough said, “and the money they earn from this can be used to buy the inputs they need for their own fields. So they have a shorter season than wealthier households because they plant later.”
The poorest homesteads also had more of their compound land classified as common land, which are likely to be used more heavily than proprietary lands. The authors said that incorporating remotely sensed data on common pool resources, which may be critical to specific households during difficult times, could help determine whether they are being overused and possibly being degraded over time.

Overall, the multiple-scale analysis of the environmental characteristics from satellite data predicted household wealth in this Kenyan landscape with an overall accuracy of 45 percent. It explained the variation in wealth within the poorest households with 62 percent accuracy, despite differences in how individual households interacted with the surrounding environment.
One curious predictor of household wealth was the overall size of its buildings. “Detecting building size from satellite images is really exciting,” Watmough said, and they didn’t change seasonally like NDVI or other more natural features do in satellite images. “So it may form the basis of a consistent long term approach to monitoring socioeconomic conditions,” he added.

A new frontier for monitoring well-being?

The researchers suggest that the increasing availability of high-resolution satellite data will enable their method to be better able to monitor progress toward meeting the sustainable development goals.
For example, the remotely sensed data required to produce NDVI time series for an individual field, Watmough said, are increasingly available from new high-resolution satellites such as the 3-meter resolution Planet constellation (available from 2014) and the 10-meter resolution Sentinel-2 (radar) data set (launched in 2015).
“The data available from satellites are improving and increasing all of the time,” he said, “so in the future it’s possible that satellite images will form a key part of monitoring socioeconomic conditions and supporting the existing data from household surveys.”
To be successful, Watmough added, the approach of predicting well-being from remotely collected environmental data will have to be adaptable and “will need to reflect the local conditions and how people are using the land.”
So while satellite data could at some point identify areas facing extreme poverty and those likely to affected by poverty, “the work should be seen as a proof of concept that it is possible to use high resolution imagery to estimate aspects of rural wellbeing.”

Citation

Watmough, G. R., Marcinko, C. L., Sullivan, C., Tschirhart, K., Mutuo, P. K., Palm, C. A., & Svenning, J. C. (2019). Socioecologically informed use of remote sensing data to predict rural household poverty. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 201812969.

Article appeared here - https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?rinli=1&pli=1&blogID=7819024038005570068#editor/target=post;postID=4609118304654314658

In Borneo, dwindling forests face further fragmentation as roads spread

by Basten Gokkon on 22 January 2019

• A study by Indonesian and Australian researchers warns of a drastic reduction in forest habitat accessible to wildlife in Indonesian Borneo if a spate of road projects is completed as planned.
• Wildlife would be able to access just 55 percent of the remaining forests in the region under this scenario, from 89 percent today, the researchers write.
• The road-building spree is part of an economic development program that proponents say is desperately needed to improve livelihoods and welfare across Indonesian Borneo.
• While conservationists agree that infrastructure access is essential, they have called for greater oversight to mitigate or minimize impacts to forests and wildlife corridors.

JAKARTA — Road projects throughout Indonesian Borneo threaten to fragment a third of the forest habitat currently accessible to the island’s wildlife, according to a new study.
Completion of ongoing and planned road construction would reduce accessible wildlife habitat to 55 percent of the remaining forests in Kalimantan, as the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo is known, from the current 89 percent. The findings were published Jan. 15 in the journal Scientific Reports by a team of researchers from Indonesia and Australia.

“That’s an alarming figure,” said lead author Mohammed Alamgir, an environmental scientist at James Cook University in Australia. “And it’s just the tip of the iceberg, because the new roads and rail projects will open up the forest like a flayed fish, allowing illegal colonists, poachers and miners to invade the forest and cause even more forest disruption.”

Road development projects planned across Kalimantan by the Indonesian government could sharply reduce the area of forest habitats accessible to wildlife. Image courtesy of James Cook University.

Using spatial analysis and satellite monitoring, the researchers evaluated large-scale road-building projects in Kalimantan under the Indonesian government’s 2011-2025 development master plan. These include an upgrade of 3,316 kilometers (2,060 miles) of the Trans-Kalimantan Highway in southern Kalimantan; 1,920 kilometers (1,190 miles) of new roads in northern Kalimantan, skirting the border with Malaysian Borneo; and additional highways and expressways throughout the provinces of Central, South, East and North Kalimantan.
The report noted that the primary goal of this new infrastructure was to increase commercial connectivity and primary industries, particularly coal mining, palm oil production, and industrial logging.
“However, little is known of the potential impacts of this new infrastructure on Bornean forests or biodiversity,” Alamgir said.
The study shows that the ongoing and planned road developments would alter the current spatial pattern of forests in Kalimantan, creating more fragmented patches of forest and a greater span of forest habitat edged by roads, and threatening forest corridors used by wildlife. Such a transformation, the authors say, is “worrisome” because the region hosts one of the world’s largest tracts of native tropical forest, currently spanning 370,000 square kilometers (143,000 square miles) — an area a fourth the size of Alaska.
The roads, the study says, would cut through 25 protected areas that are currently free of any roads, including Kayan Mentarang National Park, one of the largest remaining protected areas in Kalimantan. Seventeen other protected areas, mostly in southern Borneo, will be impacted by the planned upgrades of existing roads, the study says.
It adds that most of the road projects, both planned and underway, fall inside or along the borders of primary or selectively logged forests, suggesting that “much road expansion will be at the expense of native forest.”
The researchers classified 634 kilometers (394 miles) of this infrastructure as “very high impact,” as it will cut through protected areas; 1,472 kilometers (915 miles) as “high impact” for going through primary or peat forest; and 1,242 kilometers (772 miles) as “moderate impact” for going through selectively logged or regrowth forests.
“The currently planned and ongoing expansion of roads and rail lines in Indonesian Borneo will have severe deleterious impacts on native forests in the region,” Alamgir said.

“These projects will promote and shape future investments, particularly for logging, mining, and oil palm developments, but will have major impacts on existing forests and wildlife, and will carry serious and poorly recognized economic, financial, social, and political risks,” he added.

Planned road projects by the Indonesian government in Kalimantan are expected to have different degrees of impact on the forests in the region. Image courtesy of James Cook University.

The researchers have called on the Indonesian government to halt the projects deemed “very high impact,” and to impose stringent environmental mitigation efforts and law enforcement those classified as “high impact” and “moderate impact,” should they proceed.
“Borneo’s forests and rare wildlife have already been hit hard, but planned roads and railways will shred much of what remains, slicing across the largest remaining forest blocks,” said co-author Jatna Supriatna, a conservation biologist at the University of Indonesia.
“These projects will be like daggers in the heart of the Borneo rainforest,” Alamgir said. “We implore the Indonesian government to reconsider them, because they’ll open a Pandora’s box of crises for the world’s biologically richest forests.”
Kalimantan is the third most populated region in Indonesia, after the islands of Java and Sumatra (both of which are notably smaller in size), and the government estimates the current population of about 16 million will increase by nearly a third to more than 20 million by 2035. The region is home to indigenous communities whose lives revolve around intact forests, as well as to critically endangered species such as Bornean orangutans.
But industrial-scale forest clearing in recent decades — for mining, logging, and oil palm cultivation — has threatened the well-being and lives of both human and animal inhabitants of Kalimantan. The extensive draining of the island’s peat forests to make way for agriculture has also rendered the organic-rich soil highly susceptible to fires. In 2015 alone, nearly half of the deforestation recorded in Indonesia, or nearly 8,000 square kilometers (3,100 square miles) of forest loss, occurred in Kalimantan.
Yet there persists a legitimate need for roads and railways that would serve as an economic catalyst for the region, even as they carve up the shrinking forests, said Kiki Utomo, an environmental engineering lecturer at Tanjungpura University in West Kalimantan, who was not involved in Alamgir’s research. The state of infrastructure across Kalimantan is dire, he said, lagging even less-developed provinces in Indonesia’s east.
“If there’s a small pothole in a road in Java, people will make a big deal out of it. But in Kalimantan, the road itself could be in a hole and people will just accept it as is,” Kiki told Mongabay by phone.
He said the island’s low population density meant there was historically little incentive for the government to build an extensive road network across the region. “If there’s any infrastructure development, it’s usually in [more populated] coastal areas like in the southeast or south of Kalimantan, or in East Kalimantan province, where there are oil reserves,” he said. “But the rest of Kalimantan has been underdeveloped for years. What we have now isn’t interconnected, and its condition isn’t the best.
“We’re in dire need of infrastructure development, especially roads,” Kiki added.
He said the concerns raised by the new study were fair and reflected the views of many conservationists across Kalimantan. He agreed that the impacts of state-backed road-building projects on forests and biodiversity needed to be considered in the environmental impact assessments carried out by the government.
But Kiki said shutting down any of the projects would be unwise, given the inadequacy of alternative transportation options: carrying freight by rivers is impossible during the dry season, and building new airports would require the government to subsidize ticket prices due to the projected low demand.
“It’s impossible to not build [road] infrastructure as this is something that the people here have wanted for so long,” Kiki said.
With legislative and presidential elections slated for April this year, voters in Kalimantan will go for candidates who support road projects in their respective constituencies, Kiki said. But voters are also sensitive to the negative impacts of road development, such as forest encroachment, illegal logging and wildlife poaching, Kiki said.

He said the government should revise the planning of road projects that cut through conservation areas, such as national parks and nature reserves, as these zones are supposed to be protected by law. He also called on the government to beef up law enforcement against illegal activities inside forests.

The image shows the expected ecological impacts from large-scale road developments by the Indonesian government if completed as planned. Image courtesy of James Cook University.

The government appears to have adopted mitigation efforts in planning the road works in Kalimantan, said Irwan Gunawan, director of the Kalimantan program at WWF-Indonesia, who was not involved in the recent study. He said the government had involved civil society groups to draw up guidelines for sustainable and environmentally friendly road construction.
These technical guidelines include exempting core zones of protected areas from any development; requiring developers to put grassroots conservation strategies into place; limiting the gap between a road and the edge of the adjacent forest to 25 meters (82 feet) to minimize tree clearing; and banning any type of exploitation activities (logging, poaching) along the roads. The developers are also required to remove any construction waste from forests and dispose of it properly, as well as involve residents in monitoring the work.
Irwan said some of the newly built roads were already benefiting local communities, cutting the cost of transporting their produce from farms to towns and cities.
“We appreciate the fact that the government is trying to adopt sustainable infrastructure concepts, albeit in a basic way,” he said. “However, we haven’t received any feedback on whether all of this has been completely adopted in the implementation.”
Irwan called for greater transparency from the government to ensure that both development plans and conservation efforts continued to be aligned.

“The call from conservationists is very simple: nobody is against development, but it mustn’t compromise the biodiversity value,” he said.

Vehicles ply a road in East Kalimantan province. Image by Tessa Toumbourou for Mongabay.

Citation:

Mohammed Alamgir, Mason Campbell, Sean Sloan, Ali Suhardiman, Jatna Supriatna, and William F. Laurance. “High-risk infrastructure projects pose imminent threats to forests in Indonesian Borneo.” Scientific Reports, vol. 9, no. 140 (2019).

Article appeared here - https://news.mongabay.com/2019/01/in-borneo-dwindling-forests-face-further-fragmentation-as-roads-spread/

In West Papua, a development plan that doesn’t require clearing forest

Analysis by Een Irawan Putra on 23 January 2019 |

• Indonesia’s West Papua province on the island of New Guinea has pledged to set aside 70 percent of its land area as protected or conservation areas. Local government decisions will be key to the plan’s success or failure.
• In the administrative district of Tambrauw within West Papua, local indigenous communities depend on the forest for their livelihoods.
• The head of Tambrauw district, Gabriel Asem, says he prioritizes the land rights of local communities and that conservation and sustainable development can go hand in hand.

AYAPOKIAR, Indonesia — Mince and Atafia Momo make light work of the rocky terrain as they press toward higher ground deep in the Tambrauw forest. The pair move with a practiced agility, hauling gear in wicker baskets tied to a stretch of colorful fabric suspended around their foreheads.
For Mince, who is 40, and Atafia, 22, these green valleys in the west of the island of New Guinea are a second home, a place to hunt, to fish, to find medicines and to forage for sago, a crucial source of carbohydrates in the diet of the Momo Kaa indigenous community. For them, and for Atafia’s two toddlers, conservation of these Tambrauw hillsides carries a sense of immediacy.
“We can find sago, vegetables, fish, pigs or deer all here in the forest. And in the village we plant taro, sweet potatoes and chili,” Atafia tells Mongabay. “We never go hungry.”
I met the pair by accident. I happened to be in Ayapokiar, Atafia and Momo’s village in Tambrauw, along with 12 University of Papua students participating in a bird survey led by researcher Sebastian “Bas” van Balen and Mirza Kusrini from the university’s forestry department. In 2017, Van Balen followed in the footsteps of Henry Cushier Raven’s 1912-1914 journey through Borneo to document biodiversity declines. I was looking for a companion to enter the forest and ran into Agustinus Momo, who suggested her sister, Atafia.
She was at pains to make sure I had no problem working with a woman. “Here it’s much better,” she says. Whether it’s handling an unruly toddler at home or hauling sand on a construction site, women are generally considered the more diligent of the sexes. Atafia, for example, keeps watch over her two young children and helps pay the bills while her husband studies on a university scholarship in Palangkaraya, far away on the island of Borneo.

Atafia, left, and Mince. Image by Een Irawan Putra.

We push farther away from the village. Mince points out forest birds by name, explaining their behavior as they flutter between trees. The light through the forest is fading as we reach camp five hours after setting out.
Sometimes Atafia brings a dog with her to take down a forest deer before she kills the animal with a spear, butchers the carcass and smokes the meat for preservation. “We don’t sell the venison, we eat it ourselves,” she said. “Because from here, everywhere is far.
“Even if I had the time to go to Sorong [the provincial capital], the transportation is 500,000 rupiah [$35] one way,” she says. The journey can take around eight hours.
This time Atafia and Momo have brought fishing rods. The Iri River is around a kilometer (0.6 miles) from camp. It might not sound far, but the steep, irregular inclines are enough to make pulses quicken. “This river is full of fish,” Atafia says.

The rainforest in Tambrauw. Image courtesy of the Indonesia Nature Film Society.

Tambrauw is one of more than 500 districts within 34 larger provinces in the Indonesian archipelago. Indonesia emerged from one of the most centralized forms of government in the world following the ouster of strongman ruler Suharto in 1998. The hundreds of district governments like Tambrauw now have considerable latitude over education and health spending, as well as authorizing permits for extractive industries in the forests Atafia and Momo call home.
The district chief, known in Indonesia as a bupati, of Tambrauw is Gabriel Asem, a well-built man with a mustache as thick as the tree line in the Tambrauw valleys. Gabriel was elected head of Tambrauw when the administrative district was first created, in 2008. In his office he explains to me that around 80 percent of the 11,000 square kilometers (4,250 square miles) that make up the district are conservation areas.
“In total there are 29 subdistricts and 216 villages in Tambrauw and we make the rules for protecting forests, beaches and elsewhere,” he told Mongabay last year. “It must all be agreed with the community of customary owners, because they have territorial rights.”
Gabriel says he has long been told that by prioritizing conservation of these valleys he will sacrifice development. He disagrees.
Indonesia’s statistics agency said in March 2018 that 35.3 percent of the rural population here in West Papua province lived in poverty (defined as the equivalent of 85 U.S. cents a day or less). That is the second-highest rate among the 34 provinces across Indonesia, while malnutrition remains one of the biggest killers of children under 5.

Map of West Papua province (bright green). Image courtesy of Bwmodular/Wikimedia Commons.

But Asem points to his district’s pristine beaches and mountains, as if to say they have assets beyond carving up land parcels into concessions for development. “That is where the community can benefit, because they will have a direct stake,” he says. “In the future they will be a source of income.”
It’s a view in line with the larger development agenda in West Papua. Last October, the governors of West Papua and Papua provinces, which together make up the Indonesian half of New Guinea, signed a pledge to set aside 70 percent of their jurisdictions as protected or conservation areas. The region is home to some of the best forest left in Indonesia.

Atafia. Image by Een Irawan Putra.

The sun often beats down into the humid corridors of Tambrauw forest, but the weather can change in minutes, causing heavy rains to rush down mountainsides and accumulate in sumps on the forest floor. Atafia and Momo arrive back at camp from the river in driving rain. The pair have returned with dinner. They set down edible greens — pakis, gohi, gnemon — as well as a haul of fish.
“We are very happy to be able to bring people here,” Atafia says. “They can see how us protecting the forests is good for our children and grandchildren.”
***
Een Irawan Putra is director of the Indonesia Nature Film Society, a media partner of Mongabay.
Banner: A flower in West Papua. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.
This story was reported by Mongabay’s Indonesia team and was first published on our Indonesian site on Aug. 14, 2018.

Article appeared here  - https://news.mongabay.com/2019/01/in-west-papua-a-development-plan-that-doesnt-require-clearing-forest/

Mammoth Empire deals surprises mart

(File pix) Mammoth Empire sold Wisma Megah in Jalan Tun HS Lee for RM43 million. Pix from estate123.com

 

By Sharen Kaur - Published in NST Property on January 10, 2019

THE year 2018 was one of the worst years that the local property market could handle and it’s one investors would rather forget but there were good deals involving the sale of office towers and land.
Interestingly, there were many transactions by a single developer, Mammoth Empire Holdings Sdn Bhd, which is building Empire City Damansara (ECD), a RM5 billion project launched in 2011 in Damansara Perdana. The developer sold multiple assets in the second half of last year.
The biggest transaction was said to be the sale of 45 acres measuring 1.96 million sq ft of land in the fourth quarter of last year and at an estimated RM460 million to RM530 million in value.
The land, which was earmarked for Empire City Damansara2 (ECD2), was sold to a joint venture (JV) between Exsim Group and Binastra Construction Sdn Bhd.
However, Mammoth Empire executive director Datuk Danny Cheah confirmed that the deal has not been concluded. “We are still in discussions and there’s no agreement signed yet,” he told NST Property.
Mammoth Empire, meanwhile, did sell a 20-acre land measuring 871,200 sq ft meant for ECD2, to Asset Kayamas Group for RM236 million, or about RM270.90 psf, in the fourth quarter of last year.
Another piece of undeveloped land measuring 4.55 acres covering 98,198 sq ft in ECD1, where a Ritz Carlton Hotel had been originally planned, was sold for about RM85 million, or an estimated RM454 psf, with development order to the Exsim Group and Binastra Construction JV.
Zerin Properties founder and chief executive officer Previndran Singhe said it was a good move by the developer to dispose of some of the assets it owned within the Empire City development.
“All in all, I think it is a good move forward for Mammoth Empire as it begins to rationalise its asset holdings,” he told NST Property.
A fund manager, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the asset sales last year showed the market was still active.
“There are investors who are buying and companies which are selling for various reasons like to pare down debts, downsize or to invest in other businesses. I believe there will be more transactions this year,” he said.
For commercial, Mammoth Empire sold 33,340 sq ft of space within the podium level below MyEG Tower in the ECD development to Cuspaci Bhd for RM20 million, or at about RM600 psf, in the third quarter of last year.
The company also sold another commercial space within the podium level below MyEG Tower for RM35.4 million, or RM780 psf, on September 28 last year.
On November 16 last year, the developer sold 16,441 sq ft commercial space within the Empire City mixed use development to Excel Force MSC Bhd. The transacted price was RM9.86 million or about RM600 psf.
Besides the sale of assets in Damansara Perdana, Mammoth Empire sold Wisma Megah (formerly Bangunan Hong Leong) in Jalan Tun HS Lee for RM43 million in the third quarter of last year.
It was reported that the building, which used to house a Hong Leong Bank branch and the Hong Leong Group’s corporate headquarters, was acquired by Mammoth Empire in April 2012 for an estimated RM38 million.

9 deals of the year

(File pix) The SStwo Mall in Petaling Jaya was sold for RM180 million in July 2018.

 

Published in NST Property on January 10, 2019

 

2018 will be remembered as a year driven by concerns about the global economic slowdown, monetary policy, inflation and the 14th General Election. Brexit’s impact on the United Kingdom and Europe also worried investors, as did a slowdown in China’s economy.
A foreign fund manager described the first six months of last year as a particularly dreadful period for the Malaysian market.
Nevertheless, several interesting deals took place in the Klang Valley.
One of the biggest surprises was UEM Sunrise Bhd’s acquisition of 29.5ha in Kepong from City Hall in the second quarter. The land next to Kepong Metropolitan Park was acquired for RM416 million, or at RM131 per sq ft (psf). UEM Sunrise entered into an agreement with Mega Legacy Equity Sdn Bhd to develop the land.
“It is interesting that UEM Sunrise is coming back to Kuala Lumpur. The developer has been experiencing a slowdown in property sales in the southern region. They need to come back to Kuala Lumpur to the right market segment. I expect they will be building in a segment that can make money,” said the fund manager.

WISMA MONT KIARA
Singapore-based ARA Asset Management Ltd sold Wisma Mont Kiara, a 16-storey office building with a net lettable area (NLA) of 181,992 sq ft, to Saudi Arabia’s Alrajhi family for RM122 million (RM670 psf).
The Grade A office building in Jalan Kiara is part of the 1 Mont Kiara integrated project, which also consists of 1 Mont Kiara Mall and the 30-storey Menara 1 Mont Kiara office suites.

SSTWO MALL
The SStwo Mall (NLA of 460,000 sq ft) in Petaling Jaya was sold for RM180 million in July last year to Puchong-based DK Group of Companies.
It was reported that Asia Malls Sdn Bhd had been looking for a buyer for SStwo Mall for three years. The mall opened in 2010 and closed in March 2015 due to poor performance.
Zerin Properties founder and chief executive officer Previndran Singhe said it is best for the mall be to knocked down and rebuilt.
“As a mall, it is too hidden away. It will be tough for a mall to succeed even if the new owner upgrades it as there are too many malls in Petaling Jaya.
“I think a condominium would be better, plus, you don’t see too many in that area,” he told NST Property.

WISMA UOA PANTAI
UOA Real Estate Investment Trust (UOA REIT) sold Wisma UOA Pantai, Off Jalan Pantai Baru, Kuala Lumpur to CIMB Bank Bhd for RM120 million in the second quarter of last year.
The five-storey office building, with two mezzanine floors and two levels of basement carpark, has a NLA of 157,083 sq ft.
UOA REIT said Wisma UOA Pantai was operating at a low occupancy rate of 19 per cent as of April last year.
The sale took the market by surprise because CIMB has been going on an asset light strategy.
It is understood CIMB may use the building as its new data centre.

HILTON GARDEN INN HOTELS
Singapore’s Royal Group sold two hotels - Hilton Garden Inn North (formerly, Cititel Express) and Hilton Garden Inn South (formerly Hotel Empress) in Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, Kuala Lumpur for RM240 million or RM451,128 per room, in the third quarter of last year.
The properties were sold to Thailand-listed Strategic Hospitality Extendable Freehild and Leasehold Real Estate Investment Trust (SHREIT).
“This deal is interesting. Royal Group bought the properties about three years ago and refurbished them. This goes to show that the market is still very attractive to foreign investors,” said Previndran.
James Lim, executive director of Strategic Property Investors Co Ltd (SPI), an independent professional REIT management firm and manager of SHREIT, said in a statement the properties have great potentials.
Kuala Lumpur is ranked 10th among the world’s most visited cities. Due to its popularity among Chinese, Indian and Middle Eastern tourists, it has recorded constant growth in the number of tourists, with annualised rates for the past 10 years at 4.8 per cent for international tourists and 12.3 per cent for local tourists, Lim said.

PRINCE COURT MEDICAL CENTRE
In March last year, Khazanah Nasional Bhd announced it was buying Prince Court Medical Centre from Petroliam Nasional Bhd to expand in the healthcare services sector.
The 270-bed medical centre is located on a 2.4ha site in Jalan Kia Peng.
Industry experts said although this was a related party transaction, it showed Khazanah’s seriousness in wanting to build up capacity in healthcare services.
“The acquisition of the medical centre is a strong signal that Khazanah wants to take a significant step in the medical segment. We understand Khazanah is looking for more hospitals to add to its portfolio. New acquisitions could be here or overseas,” said an industry expert.
Khazanah invested in Pantai Holdings Bhd back in 2006 and transformed it into what is now known as IHH Healthcare Bhd, the largest emerging market-listed hospital operator with more than 10,000 beds in 10 countries.

SALE OF JTI FACTORY
JT International Bhd’s (JTI) manufacturing facility in Persiaran Raja Muda, Shah Alam on a 2ha site was sold in the second quarter of last year for RM40 million to RM50 million.
The factory was sold to a Japanese firm, believed to be another tobacco company.
“JTI has been focusing on the premium market which has softened and decided to let go of the factory to focus on other businesses. I understand that the new owner is looking at the affordable segment or possibly another segment to meet current market expectations,” said a source close to the Japanese tobacco company.
“I think JTI got a very good deal for the factory. The management is happy as it can focus on other things,” the source said.

LAND SALE
KSL Holdings Bhd’s wholly-owned subsidiaries, Gantang Jaya Sdn Bhd and BintangBintang Development Sdn Bhd, acquired nine parcels of freehold land totalling 74.72ha from Pulai Springs Resort Bhd for RM176.94 million.
The land, located within the Pulai Springs Resort in Johor Baru, was sold on March 20 last year.
The Johor-based developer plans to use it for landed property development and enhance its presence in Johor. According to Previndran, local knowledge is important.
“KSL is a Johor-based firm. The main thing from this deal is local knowledge. As much as people are saying the market is soft in the Iskandar region, there is demand there, especially for landed properties. I believe KSL will focus on landed properties comprising super-link houses, semidetached houses and bungalows,” said Previndran.

AXIS REIT’S PURCHASE OF THREE INDUSTRIAL FACILITIES
Axis Real Estate Investment Trust (Axis REIT) acquired several industrial facilities in the last six to nine months of last year.
In the second quarter, Axis REIT bought two adjoining parcels of land with four warehouse blocks, a double-storey detached office building, a double-storey canteen building and two guardhouses in Section 28, Shah Alam for RM87 million.
It also bought two freehold industrial properties, comprising a single-storey detached factory, a mezzanine office and ancillary buildings in i-Park, Indahpura, in Iskandar Malaysia, Johor for RM38.7 million.
Before the year ended, Axis REIT bought an industrial facility comprising a three-storey office with a 1.5-storey warehouse factory annexe and other ancillary buildings in Senawang Industrial Park for RM18.5 million.
“These are very interesting deals and show that the market for industrial properties and warehouses remains strong. We can expect more activities this year in the industry segment,” Previndran said.