The face of Penang island is set to change with the entry of property player Equine Capital Bhd.
The company, via associate Abad Naluri Sdn Bhd, wants to create a world-class and self-contained city in George Town where eco-living, architectural icons and high technology rule.
The “Penang Global City Centre” (PGCC), with an estimated gross development value (GDV) of RM25 billion, will be sited on a 104ha plot where the Penang Turf Club currently stands.
It is billed as the largest commercial development in Penang. Equine Capital holds a 25 per cent stake in Abad Naluri. “We want to offer solutions for tomorrow ’s city and enhance the Penang brand name,” Equine executive chairman Datuk Patrick Lim said.
“This new city centre for Penang will incorporate many technology- and ecologybased components, and will be modelled along the lines of the Kuala Lumpur City Centre.”
The project will be marketed as one of the world ’s first zero-carbon cities where pollution will be kept to a minimum.
It will offer tax breaks to technology firms wishing to set up shop as PGCC will have Multimedia Super Corridor status, Lim added.
While Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates is slated to emerge as the world ’s first zero-carbon city by 2009, other countries around the world which are developing similar cities include China and the US.
The eco-city development on the island is expected to include a 10.4ha public park which will be linked to the Penang Botanical Gardens and the Municipal Youth Park.
There will also be two five-star hotels, a performing arts centre, high-end retail outlets, two iconic towers, residential properties and a world-class meeting and convention centre.
Plans are also in place to promote medical tourism in the state through specialist clinics at the PGCC.
“With an estimated 2,000 tourists visiting Penang annually for elective surgery, we think we can add value to the medical tourism promotional effort by offering state-of-the-art healthcare residences for these visitors,” Lim said.
Also in the pipeline are urban and international schools and a monorail service.
Abad Naluri has appointed international architects for the project.
French architect Nasrine Seraji is the overall master planner. The New Yorkbased Asymptote Architecture will design the iconic Penang Towers, with an estimated GDV of RM8 billion, which will be a focal point of the PGCC.
The PGCC’s public realm will comprise a combined 34.4ha of parkland, including a 10.4ha 1km-long linear park, and about 24ha of a hill site which cannot be developed.
Close to 40 per cent of the PGCC will be dedicated to being “green” in the form of parks and open spaces, Lim added.
Other proposed measures include devising ways to collect and reuse rainwater, the construction of a central cooling plant and a waste-management system.
Lim is also mindful of concern that the project is likely to add to the island’s longstanding and worsening traffic problems.
“We are working with the Malaysian Highway Authority on how our road infrastructure will complement three chain roads and the Penang Outer Ring Road (PORR) which will cut through the PGCC,” he said.
Abad Naluri will invest RM140 million to build two flyovers to mitigate traffic congestion from George Town’s Jalan Scotland to the project site.
“We have also conducted traffic impact studies with a consultant, not only for this project but also for the whole island, and have alternative solutions for traffic in the event that the ring road project is delayed.”
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is expected to launch the PGCC project on September 12, at which event he will announce special investment incentives.
The project will be carried out in phases over 15 years and will break ground in a year.
UOB Kay Hian, in an investors’ repor t, said that plans were in place for a new integrated transport hub to be set up at the PGCC.
“The hub will host a major interchange for the Penang monorail’s two lines.
“In addition, the 17km PORR will run through the new city centre, with its proposed route from the Penang International Airport to Tanjung Bungah and Batu Ferringhi,” it said.
