KUALA LUMPUR: Country Garden Pacificview Sdn Bhd (CGPV) may review and re-evaluate its development plans for Forest City in two years if it becomes necessary, according to its regional vice president, Ir Syarul Izam Sarifudin.
Despite a weak domestic real estate market in the post-pandemic era, he asserted that the company is committed to planning its massive development project in accordance with the master plan.
"The company remains optimistic about developing an artificial island with the real estate sector as its core business.
"However, unforeseen factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the slow global economy had impacted the development momentum. But (the project) remains as in the original master plan," he said.
According to Syarul Izam, the long-term strategy for Forest City to expand sustainably using its four man-made islands, which have a combined area of more than 2,832 hectares, has never changed.
He claimed that there was no need to alter the development plans for Forest City, in particular during the first ten years of the project.
The Forest City project started in 2015, with the first man-made island, measuring 566.55 acres, serving as the development's major focus.
During Phase 1 (between 2015 and 2020), homes, infrastructure, and commercial areas were completed.
According to Syarul Izam, the plan for Phase 2 (2020–2025) is to increase investment, particularly in the commerce, finance, and high-tech sectors.
The project, roughly three times the size of Singapore's Sentosa resort island, is situated off the southern edge of Johor, close to Tanjung Pelepas Port. It is a mixed development with residential, recreational, commercial, and industrial facilities.
Only 283 ha, or 15 per cent of the four artificial islands' total area, have been developed yet, Syarul Izam said.
He said in a statement that so far, 28,000 residential units have been completed.
Forest City is also home to two hotels, two international-rated golf courses, an Industrial Building System prefabrication factory in Malaysia, Shattuck-St. Mary's Forest City international school, and a water park.
According to reports, the US$100 billion Forest City, led by Guangdong-based Country Garden Holding, has been having trouble selling real estate to its principal investors in China and Singapore.
The 28,000 units that have been handed over by Forest City to date are significantly fewer than the planned 700,000 residents who are anticipated to move there at the completion of the fourth island in 2035.
Syarul Izam said that CGPV is at the moment concentrating on its sales and marketing strategy, which involves selling real estate to purchasers in Asia, specifically in Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia.
He said that more than 100 foreign real estate agents had been hired by the company to market Forest City to prospective buyers.
Sharul Izam also encouraged local companies or traders to rent shop spaces in Forest City, given that it is located near ports, factories, and administrative facilities.