Date:  26-Oct-2015

Main board-listed construction firm Bina Puri Holdings Bhd has been selected to build 994 apartments under the PR1MA affordable housing scheme in Johor Baru for a contract sum of RM230 million, the company said in a statement today.

Group executive director Matthew Lee said the project which includes 20 shop units is expected to contribute positively to the net assets and earnings of the group for the financial year ending December 31, 2016.

The project, situated on a 18.23 acre freehold site in Plentong, Masai, is slated for completion in three years.

The project will consist of four apartment blocks with units ranging between 950 sq ft and 1,100 sq ft in size, while the shops will be 1,630 sq ft in average size.

“In line with the recent budget with construction being one of the major beneficiaries with a targeted growth in excess of 8%, the group is confident that we will be one of the major players especially with our presence in Sabah, Sarawak, Kuala Lumpur and Johor, the four main growth cities identified in the 11MP,” Tee said.

PR1MA, a scheme by the federal government to help first-time house buyers own affordable homes, has been criticised for delayed projects and putting profits first.

In Budget 2016, tabled by the prime minister on Friday, a total of 351,500 homes are to be built, of which 175,000 units will be under PR1MA.

The PR1MA homes will be sold at 20% below the market price with an allocation of RM1.6 billion.

Bina Puri’s Lee today added that the company had also last week secured a contract to build two main control buildings and four laboratory buildings in Pengerang Integrated Petroleum Complex (PIPC) in Johor for RM234.12 million.

The group also said it was currently undertaking property development in two properties with a combined gross development value of RM314 million.

These are the ongoing RM204 million Lakehill Resort in Masai and RM110 million Petrie Villa four-storey link house project in Johor Baru.

Other ongoing construction projects in the state are the RM195 Medini office tower in Iskandar Malaysia and RM94.49 million civil works in a steam cracker complex within the site of Petronas’s Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) project in Pengerang.