Mid Valley City gets cybercentre status

PROPERTY developer IGB Corp Bhd has pumped RM15 million into Mid Valley City, to enable fibre-optic connectivity through-out its mixed-development hub.

Mid Valley City recently received MSC Malaysia Cybercentre status on September 11 under the MSC Malaysia National Roll-Out plan.

The Garden Towers are designated to house the MSC Malaysia-status companies, with rental averaging between RM6 to RM7 per sq ft.

These rental prices are similar to Grade A buildings located in Kuala Lumpur.

"We have reserved some 300,000 sq ft of office space exclusively for these companies," said Mid Valley City Gardens Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Anthony Barragry during the MSC Malaysia status launch in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.


TECHNOLOGY GROWTH: Barragry says that to remain ahead, Mid Valley City Gardens has invested in broadband services due to keen demand.

Barragry said he was confident that this rental would provide the firm with a sustainable yield, adding that they were currently in talks with potential tenants.

The 35-storey North and South Towers have more than one million sq ft of gross lettable area.

"In the last 10 years, there has been a massive growth in technology. For us to remain ahead, we have invested in broadband (services) as there was keen demand for it," said Barragry.

Mid Valley City has high speed broadband access for firms as well as incubation facilities to help small and medium industries.

Multimedia Development Corp chief executive officer Datuk Badlisham Ghazali said several mutinational companies have shown strong interest in setting up shop at Mid Valley City.

"Many companies are looking at centralised business community portals. Currently, there are 15 cybercities and cybercentres in the country," he said.

Also present to officiate the launch was Science, Technology and Innovation Deputy Minister Fadhillah Yusof.

By New Straits Times (by Jeeva Arulampalam)

Mid Valley City gets MSC status

KUALA LUMPUR; Mid Valley City, an integrated urban development in the Klang Valley, has received MSC Malaysia Cybercentre status.

Mid Valley City Development chief executive officer Antony Patrick Barragry said RM15mil had been invested to enable the Mid Valley City to offer competitive Internet data centre rates and high-speed broadband access.

”Together with partners Macro Lynx Sdn Bhd, infrastructure manager and service provider for Mid Valley City, and 3Com, the infrastructure enabler, we will be providing world-class services to businesses,” Barragry said during a ceremony to highlight Mid Valley City’s MSC Malaysia Cybercentre status yesterday.

Barragry said some 300,000 sq ft of office space was reserved exclusively for MSC Malaysia status companies

”To date, we have received expressions of interest from a number of parties,” he said.

“The MSC Malaysia Cybercentre status given to Mid Valley City will assist MSC Malaysia status companies remain closer to their customers, as many businesses are located in the city centre and the Klang Valley,” he added.

By Bernama

Sime Darby among firms keen to develop Jerejak

SIME Darby Bhd is one out of four investors that are keen to develop Pulau Jerejak in Penang.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng yesterday said the other three investors are foreigners which will be backing local firms.

The foreign parties are from the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region.

Without revealing details, he said Sime Darby plans to invest in a tourism-related project and this is linked to the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER).

"We have received tremendous interest for the holistic development of Pulau Jerejak from Middle Eastern investors and Sime Darby is the first local conglomerate to express its interest," Lim told a press conference at Kompleks Tun Abdul Razak after receiving Sime Darby's president and group chief executive Datuk Seri Ahmad Zubir Murshid.

Present was Invest-in-Penang Bhd executive committee chairman Datuk Lee Kah Choon.

The NCER blueprint which was launched last year by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi states that Pulau Jerejak, which once served as a penal and leper colony, has been earmarked for a premier medical tourism centre.

The 362-hectare island, which is off the coast of Penang island, has so far seen only 32ha jointly developed by the Penang Development Corp and USA Holdings in the form of the Jerejak Resort and Spa.

Lim said the development of Pulau Jerejak would run into billions of ringgit and would span 10 years.

"The state government will likely open a tender for this project by the end of the year and all interested parties can forward their proposals then," he added.

Meanwhile, asked to comment on a news report that monorail system supplier Scomi Engineering Bhd is still keen on Penang, Lim said:

"Who is going to fund this monorail system? Previously, the federal government said it would fund the capital expenditure for this project but it has since said no."

By New Straits Times (by Marina Emmanuel)

UK housing mart' on its knees'

LONDON: House prices in Britain fell for the fourth consecutive month in September, as the credit crisis continued to worsen and the country's largest mortgage lender was forced into a takeover, the property website Rightmove reported yesterday.

Average house prices across the country fell one per cent in September to STG227,438 pounds (STG1 = RM6.27).

New listings per estate agent dropped to the lowest level for September that the index has ever recorded.

"The housing market is on its knees and will remain so until financial institutions address the disastrous state of the mortgage funding markets," said Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove.

By AP