Affordable housing in Kedah to be BDB’s focus

Management team: (from left) BDB Quarry Sdn Bhd executive director Mohd Sobri Hussein, BDB group corporate communications senior manager Sajahan Abdul Waheed and Izham at the briefing.

KUALA LUMPUR: Kedah-based property developer Bina Darulaman Bhd (BDB) will focus on affordable housing projects in the state as well as developments in Langkawi worth RM1.5bil to sustain growth and remain profitable.

BDB, whose core businesses are in property development, road works and construction, is developing some 2,000 acres in Kedah.

Of the 2,000 acres, 1,200 acres were acquired recently from the Kedah State Development Corp for RM200mil while the rest are its existing land. The new projects will cover commercial developments in Kuala Ketil and Sungai Petani.

BDB is also developing four other projects on 226 acres of land in Langkawi, which will take five to seven years to complete.

The four projects – a mixed development comprising serviced apartments, affordable housing and a commercial component in Kuah; ecotourism apartments; development of 13 acres of mangrove area into eco tourism villas for sale and leasing; as well as upgrading works of the Kuah Jetty facilities to develop a multi-storey car park and hotel nearby – will collectively have a gross development value of RM1.5bil. These projects will begin progressively next year.

For the first quarter ended March 31, 2015, BDB posted a net profit of RM3.67mil, down 27.8% from RM5.2mil last year.

Revenue came in at RM36.7mil, nearly half of the RM67.6mil achieved in 2014.

Group managing director Datuk Izham Yusoff said last year’s good performance was a one-off due to the contribution from its collaboration with Perbadanan PR1MA Malaysia for an affordable housing project in Kuala Ketil, Kedah.

“This year, we will still be profitable but it won’t be like last year as the general economy would affect our earnings and there may be delays in construction. As such, we are getting ourselves organised and we are trying to be flexible,” he said at a briefing to announce BDB’s upcoming projects.

He added that its recently launched Taman Tunku Intan Safinaz in Jitra was 70% booked to date, indicating that demand for property in Kedah was still strong.

BDB is also eyeing property projects in the Klang Valley with joint-venture partners.

The property player is evaluating proposals that has been submitted and is in talks with other developers for potential joint ventures.

While he refrained from disclosing the names of the potential partners, Izham said BDB would determine by the year-end which projects it would pursue.

“The Klang Valley market is intense and presents many opportunities. When the market is down, we may be able to buy land or attain rights to it at a more reasonable price.

“For now, the focus is to attain land. The development can be done at a later stage as long as we see value in what is offered to us,” he said, adding that BDB was still in talks with the potential partners.

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