KUALA LUMPUR: The RM8.7 billion Bukit Bintang City Centre (BBCC) project will achieve several key milestones this year as it continues to attract foreign investors.
These will include the signing of an agreement with Japan’s Mitsui Fudosan Co Ltd to manage the 1.2 million sq ft mall at BBCC.
Eco World Development Group Bhd chairman Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin expects the deal to be inked in the next three to four months, followed by BBCC’s Phase 1 launch in June this year.
BBCC Development Sdn Bhd (BBCCD) has also inked a memorandum of understanding with Zepp Hall Network Inc, a unit of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc, to set up a 2,500-seating capacity live event hall. Zepp will manage the hall, which will be built at a cost of RM100 million.
In an exclusive interview, Liew said BBCCD was ready to collaborate with other parties to make BBCC a world-class shopping and entertainment destination.
It was already talking to international hotel operators and might ink a deal in the first half of this year, Liew said at the BBCC Sales Gallery, which will be officially launched, here, today.
“We are doing a lot of work to bring foreign direct investments into Malaysia. We have advantages and we have to maximise that,” he said.
“I’m really proud that we are doing this project. In a small way, this is how we can contribute to the country.”
BBCCD was established to redevelop the 7.85ha site of the former Pudu Jail over eight to 10 years at an estimated cost of RM5 billion.
Its shareholders are UDA Holdings Bhd and Eco World, holding a 40 per cent stake each, and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), which owns the remaining 20 per cent stake.
The BBCC project will feature an iconic 80-storey tower encompassing luxury residences on the upper floors, a five-star hotel in the middle level, and offices at the lower floors.
It will also have six serviced apartment blocks ranging from 38 to 58 floors, a 45-storey building with strata offices, and another tower encompassing a four-star hotel and residences.
To complement the development, BBCCD is constructing the mall and an entertainment hub, which will house a live event hall.
Liew said the project would also have a transport hub, subject to approval, and it would have a covered walkway to monorail and light rail transit stations.
Phase 1, with an expected gross development value of RM2.61 billion, will comprise the mall, the entertainment hub, the office tower, one block of serviced apartments and the four-star hotel and residences.
“This project is not for UDA, Eco World or the EPF, but for the country. The commencement of construction this year indicates that Malaysia has a future when the whole world is in turmoil,” said Liew. Additional reporting by Amir Hisyam Rasid