MK Land in India venture

Developer MK Land Holdings Bhd is partnering two other companies for a RM3 billion residential development project in northern Bangalore, India.

This will be the company's first project in India and its second overseas, after Namibia. The project will be developed on a 120ha land near the new Bangalore International Airport.

It will be undertaken by Milan Gateway Sdn Bhd, a joint venture between MK Land, Embassy Group of India and MKN Embassy Development Sdn Bhd. MKN is a joint-venture company of MK Land and Embassy Group set up to develop IT parks, particularly in Cyberjaya.

"The project will start construction in 2010 and take not more than five years to be developed. It will potentially deliver 16,000 units of affordable homes ranging from 650 sq ft to 1,200 sq ft and approximately 560 units of retail outlets," MK Land chief executive officer Tan Sri Mustapha Kamal Abu Bakar said.

The houses, priced from RM100,000 to RM130,000 per unit, will be targeted at the low middle income group. Bangalore, India's Silicon City, is home to well-known information and communication technology companies, related colleges and research institutions.
"This type of project has a big market potential there," Mustapha told reporters at a memorandum of understanding signing ceremony between the partners in Petaling Jaya yesterday. The event was witnessed by International Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir.

Mustapha said the project will be financed through internal funds and disposal of idle landbank.

"We have landbank of more than 2,800ha and we plan to dispose of some to part-finance the project in Bangalore," he said, noting that it needs an initial investment of US$10 million (RM35.4 million) to enter the Indian market.

"We are in the black now and this project will help the company tremendously," Mustapha said, adding that it will continue to seek for more projects in India in the future.

According to the company's announcement to Bursa Malaysia, the proposed design, project management and construction will be undertaken by Malaysian companies.

The Embassy Group is one of India's most reputed developers of information technology and business parks, commercial and residential developments. It has developed a portfolio exceeding 19 million sq ft of landmark commercial and residential spaces across India.

By Business Times (by Azlan Abu Bakar)