Lendlease in talks with potential partners for new projects in Klang Valley

KUALA LUMPUR: Construction group Lendlease, which has set aside RM4 billion as capital for the Asian market, is currently talking to potential partners for new projects in the Klang Valley.

Lendlease chief executive officer for Asia, Tony Lombardo, said the focus now is to grow the group’s urban regeneration portfolio and hoped there would be concrete progress in the discussions in the next one to two years.

“Back in 2007, we only had one urban regeneration project and now we have 18, including the TRX Lifestyle Quarter here and Paya Lebar Quarter in Singapore.

“I would like to see us score another two to three large-scale urban regeneration projects in the next few years,” he told Bernama in an interview recently.

When asked whether Lendlease would consider Bandar Malaysia as one of its urban regeneration projects, Lombardo said the site was potentially a perfect choice, however, the group would need to do background work for at least 12-18 months before making a decision.

He said when looking at potential projects, Lendlease’s criteria included connectivity to the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), road connectivity and easy accessibility.

“When we bought projects everywhere in the world, they were not traditionally the most loved destinations at the time because people could not envisage what that location could turn into. But we are never afraid to go after things that do not have a clear purpose as long as we have an idea of what we think it can be.

“That is why we always stress on the points of connectivity,” he said.

There had been a lot of questions on the status of Bandar Malaysia development after the government decided to postpone the Kuala Lumpur- Singapore high- speed rail (HSR) project.

The 196.68-hectare site, which was formerly an airbase for the Royal Malaysian Air Force, has easy access to Putrajaya via the Maju Expressway and the city centre through the underground SMART tunnel.

The Bandar Malaysia South and North MRT stations, under the MRT second line which runs from Sungai Buloh to Serdang and Putrajaya, would be operational in 2022. — Bernama