Berjaya Land To Build Smart Affordable Homes In Myanmar

By Tengku Noor Shamsiah Tengku Abdullah and Noor Liyana Zulkifli YANGON (Myanmar), Aug 30 (Bernama) -- Berjaya Land Bhd is making a foray into building smart affordable homes here with a gross development value (GDV) of US$624 million. Disclosing this, Country Head and Chief Executive Officer of Berjaya Myanmar Holdings Sdn Bhd, Pee Kang Seng said the project, expected to take off in 2020. It is located about 40 minutes from downtown Yangon on a 74.05 hectare land (183 acres), and will comprise about 14 parcels to be built over three phases. Berjaya Myanmar Holdings is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Berjaya Land. “It will take maybe about six years to complete. but we will start of with affordable housing, as it is primarily important, before we start looking at profit. I think if you come to a country like Myanmar, it is a recognised fact that housing is adequate here. “So, this being the case, we can really look at affordability... whether people can afford expensive houses. To move forward, I think we need to address the affordable housing segment,” Pee told Bernama News Channel (BNC) on the sidelines of the Malaysia-Myanmar Connect (MYC 2019) seminar here today. The three-day event from Aug 28 is organised by the Malaysia-Myanmar Business Chamber in partnership with the Malaysian Embassy in Yangon and in collaboration with the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE). The programmes lined-up for the event includes a visit to the Thilawa Special Economic Zone, knowledge-sharing sessions with Myanmarese associations, a briefing on Myanmar’s economic system, as well as engaging in networking sessions with local businesses. Pee said while Berjaya Land is aiming for a GDV of US$624 million for the affordable housing venture, he expects it to grow as the economy picks up and did not want to be too ambitious in this regard. Apart from 10,000 residential units, the company will also have a commercial segment with about 1.2 million square feet of retail space. Berjaya Land is also inviting entities like hospitals and international schools to take up the space, as eventually there would be a large number of students wanting to go to schools and in reality, the project will be fully integrated and not just comprise houses. Pee said the project is expected to start in January 2020. Saying, this was the first project by Berjaya Land on a joint venture basis with the Myanmar government, he also expressed confidence it would be successful. -- BERNAMA