GUTHRIE Property Development Holding Sdn Bhd will be well-placed to enhance its position as a leading property player when it becomes a listed entity after a proposed rationalisation.
The exercise will involve parent company Kumpulan Guthrie Bhd and two plantation subsidiaries Highlands and Lowlands Bhd (H&L) and Guthrie Ropel Bhd (G Ropel).
With a land bank of more than 16,000 acres in the Klang Valley, the company's development projects will keep it busy for the next 50 years.
The proposed rationalisation exercise of Kumpulan Guthrie, expected to be completed by June next year, will result in Guthrie Property assuming H&L's listing status. Upon its completion, H&L and G Ropel will be wholly-owned subsidiaries of Guthrie and delisted.
H&L will also be disposing of its two land parcels totalling 640ha near Bukit Raja and Kapar to Guthrie Property for RM210mil.
The exercise, which has been approved by the board and pending approval of the Securities Commission, will result in two better capitalised and focused listed entities.
It will also result in a higher public shareholding in Guthrie, with the lowering of Permodalan Nasional Bhd's (PNB) stake to 62.3% from 72.3%.
Guthrie Property director Wan Abdullah Wan Ibrahim said to prepare for its new role as a listed property player, the company had embarked on an organisational reengineering through its performance management system to enhance staff productivity.
''We also aim to become ISO 9000 certified by the end of next year which will further improve organisational efficiency and work processes. Customer relations management (CRM) is also underway for implementation by year-end,'' he said.
Abdullah said Guthrie Property would embark on higher value-added development to optimise its advantage of having a sizeable linear land bank in a strategic growth corridor.
''We will open up new planned communities in areas such as the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) and outside the Klang Valley by offering a diversified range of products of different price range.
''The commitment to develop quality homes with premium features is our trademark towards serving the needs of the increasing number of savvy home buyers,'' he said.
Abdullah said that since the idea to venture into property development was mooted by Guthrie chief executive officer Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim in 1994 to take advantage of the group's sizeable plantation land bank, some 11,650 acres had been earmarked for development.
''Our vision is to become a premier developer of planned communities of international standard that provide comfort and convenience to the people,'' he said.
Its development along the western corridor of the Kuala Lumpur Outer Ring Road stretching from Bukit Jelutong in Shah Alam to Lagong, near Rawang, has come to be known as the Guthrie Corridor.
The maiden project is the 2,200-acre Bukit Jelutong in Shah Alam, scheduled for completion in the next four years, with a total of 8,015 units. The other developments are the 1,950-acre Bukit Subang, 5,300-acre Elmina and 2,300-acre Lagong.
Abdullah said the concept of planned communities had driven the company's development strategies from the conceptual, design and building stages to ensure all the elements of a true neighbourhood community were established for its buyers.
''Our aim is to provide more than what meets our buyers' expectations and after careful studies of how an ideal community should live, we set out to establish an ideal place of abode and neighbourhood for them. Our planned community enables residents to have all the conveniences of a modern place of stay to call their home,'' he told StarBiz in an interview.
''We also take great care in ensuring our commercial and industrial precincts are equally well-designed and have all the necessary facilities to meet the needs of the operators. For example, the industrial precinct has infrastructure which allows the easy movement of big containers and a centralised food court.''
Abdullah said the decision not to have commercial development distributed throughout the township was another distinct feature of Guthrie Property, ''as we believe that a centralised commercial precinct will ensure better patronage of the businesses there, besides ensuring the privacy of our residents.''
Bukit Jelutong's commercial precinct called The Piazza on 26 acres will have a commercial complex aimed at creating a community-driven commercial precinct for the residents. Under phase one, with a gross lettable space of 200,000 sq ft, the complex will have an IT centre, laundrette, banks, food and recreation outlets and hairdressing saloon.
On the Guthrie Corridor Expressway, Abdullah said: ''We believe in getting the necessary infrastructure ready for our buyers and saw the opportunity to connect our four developments via the Guthrie Corridor Expressway, a 25-km super highway stretching from Bukit Jelutong to Kuang, near Rawang.
''The expressway's linear configuration provides flexibility of land planning and feasibility of shared public amenities, besides enhancing the real estate value of properties along the corridor. It also serves as a physical demarcation between the various precincts, especially the industrial, from the residential and commercial areas.''
Guthrie Corridor Expressway Sdn Bhd general manager Abd Hakim Mohamed said the expressway, the western portion of the total Klang Valley infrastructure development, was of the highest design standards with a 5m central median complete with motorcycle lanes.
Expected to be completed early next year, the six-lane Guthrie Corridor Expressway, will have two rest service areas and nine interchanges on the main line and two that connect to existing roads.
''As it converges with other existing and proposed highways, including the North South Expressway, Klang Valley Ex- pressway and the KL Outer Ring Road, it serves as a catalyst for growth in the western corridor, especially the less-developed Shah Alam-Rawang corridor,'' he said.
Source: The Star | 
