THREE Hong Kong companies and a Malaysian savings union have agreed to develop one of the largest commercial complexes in the southern Malaysian city of Johor Bahru.
The Menara Landmark project, with a 33-storey office tower, shops and a hotel, will cost M$600 million (about HK$1.82 billion) to build. Its floor area will be 1.37 million square feet when completed in 1997.
Officials of the Hong Kong firms - Tem Fat Hing Fung (Holdings), Cheung Kong (Holdings) and New World Development Co - said they expected the space to be fully taken up.
The Malaysian partner is the Muslim Pilgrims Fund Board.
Johor Bahru, capital of Malaysia's fourth largest state Johor, is tipped for rapid growth as an industrial centre. The city is also popular with Singaporean shoppers attracted by the weaker Malaysian currency against the Singapore dollar.
Tem Fat Hing Fung chairman Raymond Chan said Johor Bahru could emerge as another Shenzhen.
