MULPHA International Bhd, in its re-branding efforts, is planning to launch its first high-end niche residential development in the Klang Valley.

The project in Bangsar will have only 20 semi-detached houses with about 4,000 sq ft built-up area on 3,000 sq ft land and is priced in the region of RM2.5mil in a gated and guarded environment with residents clubhouse, gymnasium, swimming pool, roof-top deck, courtyard garden, private garden and water features.

The unique features of walking through the courtyard garden fronting each living room, leading to the common swimming pool offers a nice tropical ambience.

Mulpha Land & Property Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Lai Meng said the project, to have an estimated gross development value of RM55mil, would be launched next year.

Lai said the company bought the 1.5-acre freehold land located near the Tivoli Villas condominiums a few weeks ago.

The semi-detached houses will offer several unique features that include a bigger kitchen with outdoor grille area, a pantry in a room before one enters the master bedroom, and perhaps a ''hidden'' gate at the staircase for added security.

It will have basement car park located next to the units. The entire precinct will look like a landscaped garden.

Lai said a kitchen was no longer just a place to cook but also a showpiece, and for this reason, the kitchen area for a semi-detached house must be of a reasonable size and not too small.

''A house must be a home. It is pointless creating a house that is nice to look at but may be so opulent that it is distasteful and no longer a home,'' he said, adding that he was keen to share some of the unique features he had designed for his own house to the Bangsar project.

''We will also be reviving our commercial project in Section 16, Petaling Jaya. We plan to build a serviced apartment, a block of SoHo (small office/home office) and two corporate office blocks. We may launch it in 2006,'' he said.

Lai said although lots of new condominiums were coming up in Petaling Jaya, there were currently no purpose-built service apartments in the vicinity.

As this piece of land is next to the Phileo Damansara commercial centre and at a traffic light junction, he said, the company would do a careful feasibility study of the traffic flow to ensure that ''everything is done properly.''

On the groupˇ¦s re-branding exercise, he said Mulpha appeared to be better known in Australia for its Sanctuary Cove than it was in Malaysia. This was despite the groupˇ¦s core business in Malaysia being property development and no more trading.

The 474ha Sanctuary Cove in Gold Coast, Queensland, was acquired in January 2002. It is a unique, award-winning integrated lifestyle residential resort.

He said he had observed that many of the niche property developers in the Klang Valley became well known mainly because of their high-end projects.

It is with this view that Mulpha is undertaking the Bangsar project.

Lai said Mulpha had been divesting its non-core businesses over the past two years and was focusing more on property development.

He said Mulpha had ongoing freehold developments in various locations in Malaysia currently: Leisure Farm Resort (1,765 acres); Bandar Seri Ehsan (1,200 acres) in Sepang, Selangor; Taman Desa Aman (426 acres) in Kulim, Kedah; and Bukit Panchor (250 acres) with its new Taman Seri Bayu (24 acres), both in Nibong Tebal, Penang.

To date, 1,216 housing units have been launched and 78% of them have been sold in Taman Desa Aman.

As for Bandar Seri Ehsan, 1,309 residential units and shops have been completed, of which 98% have been sold.

Source : The Star  03/10/2005