ISKANDAR PUTERI: Forest City, a mega mixed development project on four reclaimed islands in Johor waters is proceeding according to plan.
The development, near Tanjung Pelepas Port, is on 2832.79 hectares (7,000 acres) over four islands.
In a statement today, Forest City regional deputy president Syarul Izam Sarifudin said although the global real estate market is relatively slow due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the long-term plan for sustainable development in the area remains.
He said the company is still optimistic about developing the artificial islands with real estate as its core business and "does not see any need to change the existing plan, especially for the first 10 years from 2015 to 2025”.
The first phase (2015-2020) is to complete residences as well as some infrastructure and business space to accommodate the existing community while the second phase (2020-2025) will explore further investment opportunities, especially in trade, financial and high-tech industrial hubs, the statement said.
"However, unforeseen factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the slow global economy had impacted the development momentum. But (the project) remains as in the original master plan,” he said.
Syarul Izam also said the company is prepared to review and re-evaluate Forest City’s development plans after 2025 if there is a need to do so.
He added that Forest City is being promoted actively in Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia and 100 international real estate agents have been appointed to attract buyers from these countries.
"We also welcome local traders interested to rent shop units in Forest City. The area is surrounded by various industrial sectors such as ports, factories and government administration," he said.
The Forest City project started in 2015 and 28,000 residential units have been completed over seven years with the main focus on developing the first reclaimed island which has a footprint of 566.55 ha (1,400 acres).
About 283 ha (700 acres), or 15 per cent of the total area of the four artificial islands, have been developed so far.
To date, Forest City has two hotels, two international standard golf courses, the largest Industrial Building System (IBS) prefabricated factory in Malaysia, the Shattuck St Mary Forest City International School which offers an American curriculum and a water theme park. - Bernama
