New | Country Garden’s Malaysian mega development eyes global buyers

Country Garden, China’s leading residential developer, said its mega reclamation project in south Malaysia’s Johor state will start apartment presales in the next six months and target global buyers.

The project, Forest City, comprising four man-made islands at the junction of Singapore and Malaysia, is the Chinese developer’s largest project overseas, with an expected total investment amounting to 250 billion yuan (HK$296 billion).

At its global press conference held in Singapore on Friday, Mo Bin, President of Country Garden Holdings, said the 14 square kilometre project was not simply a property project but a “city development project”.

“We will develop apartments, villas as well as schools, hospitals, exhibition centre, and a financial special administrative region to achieve city-industry integration,” Mo said, adding that the developer’s intention is to create a multi-layer eco-city, which has been designed to locate vehicular traffic and light rail transport away from ground level.

The project is in partnership with Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor, a Johor state investment arm, through a joint venture where Country Garden holds a 60 per cent stake.

While the huge project is still undergoing reclamation and infrastructure work, Country Garden said pre sales of apartments in one island would kick off in the first half of this year and the average price would be 1,200 Ringgit per square foot (HK$2,181 per sq ft).