PPB confident of overwhelming response for Taman Megah project

KUALA LUMPUR: PPB Group Bhd is confident of overwhelming response for its mixed development project in Taman Megah, Petaling Jaya, with a total gross development value of RM500 million.

Managing director, Lim Soon Huat said the project, expected to be launched in the fourth quarter of this year, had received over 300 unofficial registrations from buyers within the area to date.

“We are not allowed to launch (the project) without approval. The GDV for the residential site, consisting of 228 condominium units is expected to be at RM300 million, while the remaining RM200 million is for the retail venture.

“The project is actually a very low density project and we are as such looking to launch the 228 residential units at the same time. We will price the property at an affordable range,” he told a media briefing on the group's performance yesterday.

He said the project is scheduled to be completed in four years and start contributing to the group revenue by the second half of 2018.

For the first half ended June 30, 2017, the group's revenue for the property segment declined by 35 per cent to RM21 million as compared to the same period last year due to the completion of the Taman Tanah Aman project last year.

It was also due to a lower occupancy rate for investment properties due to the ongoing extension and refurbishment projects and lower project management fee income.

Meanwhile, director Datuk Ong Hung Hock said PPB would not raise the selling price of flour despite an increase in the global wheat price.

“As a responsible company, we can't adjust the price just because of higher input cost and then lower the price when the (input cost) price dropped. We will absorb it (any cost increase),” he added.

The group also expects a strong recovery in its environmental engineering and utilities segment in the second half of this year, driven by the positive order book of RM350 million as at June 30, 2017, and number of projects it is tendering for at the moment.

PPB is currently pursuing five water and sewage treatment projects in various states with an estimated value of RM500 million. It completed two water and sewage projects in the first half of the year with a combined contract value of RM35 million, while having secured three others at RM230 million in total.

For the first six months, PPB's revenue in the environmental engineering and utilities segment dropped 62 per cent to RM45 million due to the completion of most projects in 2016, while those secured this year have yet to contribute significantly. —