China property firm already reclaiming land in Johor

China property firm already reclaiming land in Johor

The controversy over huge reclamation works by Chinese developer Country Garden in Johor Baru has not affected similar work being undertaken nearby by another Chinese property firm.

Guangzhou R&F Properties started reclaiming land at sections of its 47ha site along 1.8km of coastline near the Causeway in February, a company spokesman said.

The land comprises six plots which the firm bought from the Sultan of Johor for RM4.5 billion ($1.7 billion) last December. Five of the plots are to the east of the Causeway and one to the west.

Four are vacant sites while two have sections that need to be reclaimed. Reclamation is still under way so it has not been confirmed how much and what parts of the project will be on this reclaimed land, the spokesman added.

R&F Properties will eventually build what it calls a "hopsca" integrated development - hotel, offices, park, shopping mall, convention centre and apartments - but the first phase is residential and retail, and sits on existing land.

The R&F Princess Cove project, as it is called, is now under construction and will comprise about 3,000 apartments in 15 blocks and 292 shop units. Flats range from about 400 sq ft for a studio unit to 1,400 sq ft for a four-bedroom unit, with dual-key units also available. Pricing is not confirmed but will be "reasonable", said Mr Fairus Cheung, general director of sales and marketing for R&F Development.

The 4.86ha freehold development is set to be launched in the middle of next month and will be completed by the third quarter of 2017. The entire development is expected to take five to seven years to complete.

Mr Cheung said R&F's Environmental Impact Assessment had been approved by the Malaysian authorities. This was confirmed by Johor environment chief Ayub Rahmat yesterday.

Last week, the Singapore Government and environmentalists expressed concern over Country Garden's work on a man-made island on the Malaysian side of the Strait of Johor that is close to the Second Link.

R&F Properties opens its Singapore sales gallery for Princess Cove at 42 East Coast Road tomorrow. Its Malaysia gallery opened last Saturday and has seen about 20,000 visitors, of which 50 per cent are Malaysian, with Singaporeans among the rest, Mr Cheung said.

R&F has developed more than 100 projects in China since 1994, including the 486m-tall Tianjin R&F Guangdong Tower.

The company was ranked No. 10 in a joint research report last year on the top 500 property developers in China by the China Real Estate Research Association, China Real Estate Industry Association and China Real Estate Appraisal.

R&F is developing 25 new projects this year and launching 63 others. It has about 21,930 employees across 30 offices in China, Malaysia and Singapore.

wrennie@sph.com.sg


This article was first published on June 28, 2014.
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