Perdana ParkCity sees record RM600m sales

For the first time Perdana ParkCity is going to launch more than RM500 million worth of products in Desa ParkCity

Perdana ParkCity Sdn Bhd expects to rake in sales of RM600 million for the year to December 31 2010, its highest since it was set up 10 years ago, group chief executive officer Lee Liam Chye said.

"For the first time we are going to launch more than RM500 million worth of products in Desa ParkCity. We are confident of sales as we have a lot of registrations from repeat buyers," Lee said.

The company is launching 338 units of condominiums for some RM260 million and 147 units of two- and three-storey terraced houses, worth around RM300 million in June and July, respectively.

Perdana ParkCity was set up in 1990 as a subsidiary of Samling Group to venture into property development. Its flagship project is Desa ParkCity in Bukit Menjalara.
Sarawak-based Samling Group is controlled by tycoon Datuk Yaw Teck Seng. It is one of the biggest logging companies in Malaysia with some 1.5 million ha of forests in Sarawak.

The development of Desa ParkCity on 190ha started in June 2002. The land, formerly a site for a quarry, was bought from SPK Group in 2000 for around RM200 million.

It took the company three-and-a-half-years to form the site by blasting granite rocks.

"It was a very hostile site for development. There were 12.5 million cu m of material, where 75 per cent were rocks.

"We had to spend RM100 million upfront to form the site. It would have cost us more than RM200 million but we had two crushing plants to process the rocks, which were of commercial value and sold that in the market to lower the cost," Lee said.

Land clearing was clearly a drag on the project, which was planned for completion in 2012.

"It slowed us down a lot. Once we passed through that phase, we were able to ramp up. We are now targeting to complete by 2015," Lee said.

Lee, who has more than 20 years of experience in property consulting and development has been involved in Desa ParkCity since 1999.

"Master planning the 190ha was not easy but I knew how to. We just had to do a lot of research and the fundamentals of what people wanted was quite clear," Lee said.

"It was tough as we had to plan 25 neighbourhoods and the concepts were different. But I think today, we made the right judgement call," he said.

By Business Times