Damansara Realty optimistic of double-digit growth in 2019

PETALING JAYA , Aug 15 (Bernama)   -- Damansara Realty Bhd is optimistic of securing double-digit growth in 2019, backed by its two key sectors -- properties and land development; and integrated facilities management (IFM), says group managing director Brian Iskandar Zulkarim.

“Moving forward, we’ve got some interesting projects... we will be very careful when it comes to property projects under the challenging (property) market but we will continue to secure more IFM projects. 

“And we have 207 hectares (ha) of land in Kuantan, Pahang, which we are proposing to use for bauxite mining activity,” he told reporters during the company’s corporate and business update here today.

He said the bauxite mining activity will start either at year-end or early next year once the company secures the approval and related licences.

He noted that the land has about five million metric tonnes of the mineral worth between RM300 million and RM400 million and the company is looking at an average annual contribution of RM60 million to RM100 million.

“The mining duration is three to five years until we exhaust our bauxite mineral. We are doing an environmental impact assessment (EIA) right now while waiting for the standard operating procedure (SOP), and once the SOP comes out if there is any element in the EIA that we need to add, we will add.

“We are also doing another geologist report right now just to make sure that the mineral that we have remains the same. We are very well aware of the issue on pollution because once we finish this bauxite mineral, we need to develop this land so there is no use for us to create pollution, and at the end the value of the land goes down,” he explained.

He added that the company would also launch a commercial development known as Aliff Square 3 in Tampoi, which is located in a mature and prime area close to Johor Bahru city centre.

With a gross development value (GDV) of RM187 million, the 2.8 ha project is starting to receive positive response.

The other project is a mixed development (commercial and residential) on 20.23 ha of land in Negri Sembilan with a GDV of RM771 million.

For the first half of 2019, Damansara Realty saw its net profit grow to RM6.2 million from the RM1.4 million recorded in the same period a year ago.

— BERNAMA