SIME Darby Bhd could be the main beneficiary of the 108,000ha Malaysia Vision Valley (MW) project announced under the 11th Malaysia Plan, where it has 28,328ha in Nilai and Seremban originally earmarked for its own Vision Valley initiative.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced yesterday the creation of MW, an integrated economic development valley covering Nilai, Seremban and Port Dickson in Negri Sembilan. Sime Darby had in 2009 unveiled a master framework for Sime Darby Vision Valley (SDW), outlining two main components, namely Selangor Vision City and Negri Sembilan Vision City.
The vision cities have been touted to have a collective estimated gross development value (GDV) of up to RM30 billion. The then chief executive officer Datuk Seri Ahmad Zubir Murshid said Sime Darby has a landbank of about 32,374.9ha, stretching from the Guthrie Corridor in Shah Alam to Seremban. The Guthrie Corridor land spans around 4,451.5ha. "This area has been earmarked by the government for development, as announced in 2005 by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, to complement the country's fiveyear economic development plans," said Ahmad Zubir. Business Times' queries to Sime Darby were not answered but Singaporebased urban design and consultant firm Pomeroy Studio said its founder, architect and master planner Professor Jason Pomeroy had been commissioned in 2009 by the conglomerate for the plan.
Pomeroy Studio, when contacted yesterday said the master plan was for "a network garden city four times the size of Manhattan" called Vision Valley Malaysia. The studio's website said the master plan seeks to capitalise on Kuala Lumpur International Airport and consolidate five regions that form a boomerang of potential new development to address Kuala Lumpur s southerly social, spatial and economic growth. An analyst said it was most likely that SDW would be absorbed as part of MW. "Sime Darby is a governmentlinked entity with huge landbank spread across the country. It will not be a stretch of the imagination to say that Sime Darby will play or has already played a big part in the formation of MW," he said.
MIDF Research said another potential MW major beneficiary was Mah Sing Group Bhd, which bought 388.5ha of freehold land in Seremban for RM359.6 million in August last year to develop into a township.
Mah Sing group managing director Tan Sri Leong Hoy Kum acknowledged that its Seremban township land would stand to benefit from the proposed MW, which is to complement the development of the Klang Valley, especially Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur. "The township covers 388.5ha of freehold land, with a GDV of RM7.5 billion, and its future occupants will stand to benefit from the close proximity to MW," Leong said yesterday
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