JOHOR: Construction material prices are not expected to fluctuate drastically in the near term and have been steady for the past two years despite weak sector demand, UEM Sunrise Bhd managing director and chief executive officer Anwar Syahrin Abdul Ajib said.
Anwar said contractors bidding jobs for UEM Sunrise’s projects had been quoting competitive pricing which reflects manageable market condition at current economic climate.
"We are seeing construction players in the country who are willing to sacrifice some margins to utilise their full capacity for secured jobs. This is a positive thing for the market.
"Right now, on the construction per square foot (PSF) perspective, raw material prices have remained competitive and have not deviated too much for the past two years," he said in a media briefing here on Friday.
UEM Sunrise, which is also the master developer of Iskandar Puteri in Johor, is also positive on transit oriented developments (TOD), especially in Iskandar Puteri, Johor and Nilai in Negri Sembilan.
The company has allocated 28ha of land for KL-Singapore high speed rail (HSR) station together with a masterplan for the development.
He said while the government had deferred plans to proceed with HSR plans, the company sees positive potential for TODs and related developments that will spur economic growth, especially in the vicinity of Iskandar Puteri, if the project gets the go-ahead from the government.
"The government has not completely scrapped the HSR plans and as such, there is still a chance the government will initiate the project. We are positively looking ahead for that to happen," he said.
Chief marketing officer Kenny Wong Koon Keng said UEM Sunrise had 76 per cent or 9,990 acres of developable landbank in Johor. OF this, 6,379 acres are in Iskandar Puteri and the remaining in Desaru, Kulai and Mersing.
As of 2018, UEM Sunrise sold RM1.43 billion worth of properties, higher than the targeted RM1.2 billion sales figure.