Gadang sets eyes on infrastructure projects in Sabah, Sarawak

KUALA LUMPUR: Construction and property player Gadang Holdings Bhd, which currently tendering for up to RM2 billion worth of projects, aims to secure a slice of infrastructure projects expected to be rolled out in East Malaysia following the states’ higher allocation on development expenditure next year.

“There is a huge potential in East Malaysia. They (Sarawak state government) had allocated about RM9 billion on infrastructure and rural developments (for 2019). That is a huge amount and it is only for the state,” the group’s construction division managing director Khew Check Kiet told reporters after its AGM yesterday.

“For Sabah, they also announced a couple of billions for the Pan Borneo Highway project. So if you combine all that, there is a lot of opportunities for us,” Khew added.

Given its strong track record in government projects especially in infrastructure and hospital projects, Khew said Gadang is confident that it will be able to secure some of the projects.

“Gadang is quite a strong player, if we go in competitively (in terms of pricing), we are confident that we will get some projects,” he said.

Khew said the group’s current tender book comprises four projects, which include the Pan Borneo Highway project, Mara Junior Science College project in Sabah as well as the bridge and jetty projects in Penang and Perak.

With all the infrastructure projects expected to be rolled out in Sabah and Sarawak next year, Khew believes it will help improve the group’s order book and revenue going forward.

It currently sits on a sizable order book of RM1.5 billion comprising Petronas’ Rapid, Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) viaduct project, Tun Razak Exchange bridge and tunnelling works as well as Cyberjaya Hospital project.

Meanwhile, asked whether the group will participate in the property crowdfunding platform, dubbed FundMyHome scheme announced in Budget 2019 recently, its property division’s managing director Datuk Ling Hock Hing said that it is still early to tell.

“At this juncture, it (the scheme) is still very sketchy and it needs the SC’s approval for the parties to come in. There are a lot of talks in the market now, some are pro and some are negative. So we need to find more details and information on this (scheme),” Ling added.

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) recently said that it will facilitate the establishment of the property crowdfunding framework, which is expected to come into effect in the first quarter of 2019.

Meanwhile, Ling said Gadang is planning to launch three housing projects in its financial year 2019 with a total gross development value (GDV) of RM392 million.

The group currently has approximately 310 acres of undeveloped land with remaining GDV of RM2.9 billion.