Bandar M'sia now greener, with more 'affordable housing'

The Bandar Malaysia project will feature more green spaces and affordable housing projects than when it was conceived by the previous BN-administration.

In a statement today, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said the project will have 85 acres of green or recreational space, up from 48.6 acres in the original plan.

He said the project will also feature 10,000 units of affordable housing, up from 5,000 previously.

This, said Lim, was the result of negotiations to improve the terms of the deal to benefit the country.

He also attached a monetary value of RM4 billion to the "improvements" without providing a breakdown.

Other improvements include a 50-50 dividend split when Bandar Malaysia land is sold, up from 60-40 in developer IWH-CREC Sdn Bhd's (ICSB) favour.

KiniGuide: How ICSB got back Bandar M'sia after botched Najib-era deal

In 2015, ICSB - a joint-venture between Iskandar Waterfront Holdings (IWH) and China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC) - was supposed to acquire a 60 percent stake in Bandar Malaysia, which was owned by 1MDB.

The deal was called off at the eleventh hour and ICSB's RM700 million deposit was refunded.

The project went into cold storage until Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad made a sudden announcement that it would be revived and ICSB brought back as partner.

Bandar Malaysia is owned by the Finance Ministry, while Iskandar Waterfront Holdings' (IWH) main shareholder is property tycoon Lim Kang Hoo.

According to Bloomberg, IWH is considering an initial public offering next year to raise money to develop Bandar Malaysia.

An anonymous source cited for the article said valuations might fetch up to RM30 billion.