Botanica. CT to Construct International School

Quoted from Business Times: Wednesday, December 09, 2009, 09.25 AM

THE sleepy hollow of Balik Pulau on Penang island is set to buzz with the construction of an international school soon.

Penang-based property developer MTT Properties and Development Sdn Bhd, which is developing the 120ha "Botanica. CT" township in the south-west district of the island, has begun earthworks for a full boarding international school that will be sited within the development.

The establishment of the school in the township is expected to enhance demand and value of properties within the development.

"The school will offer the British curriculum system for students of Year 7 onwards and will be able to house 800 students," MTT Properties and Development group general manager Jason Tan told Business Times. The first enrollment for the school - which is expected to incur development and set-up costs of close to RM100 million and sprawled over 2.8ha of land - is planned for September 2011, Tan added.

Botanica. CT is undertaken by MTT Properties and Development, which is a subsidiary of MTT & Priority Group of Companies and has a history which dates back to 1963.

"Apart from full boarding facilities, the school will have a state-of-the-art library, science laboratories, workshops, a multi-purpose hall, concert auditorium, tennis and netball courts, swimming pools and a football field.

"About 40.6 per cent on which the school land is sited has been earmarked to be left as open or green areas," Tan said.

Penang is currently home to several international schools including the International School of Penang (commonly known as Uplands School), St Christopher's International Primary School, Fairview International School, Tenby International School and Dalat International School, which are all located in the north-east district of Penang.

Tan said MTT Properties and Development is hoping to launch the third and fourth phases of its CT.Botanica development next year.

"Phase 3, which carries a development value of around RM65 million, will feature 103 residential homes, with two- and three-storey super-link homes and two-storey semi-detached home. These will be completed in 2012," he said.

Phase 4, which is slated for completion in 2012, will comprise 29 tropical hillside three-storey villas, with seven exclusive designs and boasting their own pools.

The project's first phase was launched in 2006 and the majority of its buyers are locals, with approximately 10 per cent of them comprising foreigners from the UK and South Korea.
"While Phase 3 is likely to be owned by local homeowners, the fourth phase may probably have more foreign investors and we hope the setting up of the international school will help us attract even more foreign buyers," Tan said.

The company plans to market its Tropical Hillside Villas in Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia.

"London is also a focus for us, due to the existing familiarity with Penang and the potential links which may be created due to the international school," he added.

Balik Pulau: Fresh Air and Peaceful Life

I had a chat with a colleague who was born and bred in Balik Pulau.

me: Isn't it far to travel to Bayan Lepas for work?
him: No ah, not far. I leave my house at 8.25am, I arrive in office at 8.50am. Jam is at Equatorial area only. You must choose the right time to travel.

me: You enjoy staying in Balik Pulau?
him: It's a nice place what. We have fresh air... the mountains block all the pollutants. We save money because we stay home at watch tv, there's no shopping complex around. We have good schools in Balik Pulau. That's why you see ppl like us who was born in Balik Pulau, still buy houses in Balik Pulau now. We have a big pasar and we have nice laksa.

me: Then how do you buy your groceries?
him: After work, drop by Sunshine Square, get those stuffs you want and go home!

me: Flood?
him: Your area no flood one lah. Don't worry.

Now, doesn't it seem like a good place to stay? To the Suiwah Corporation management guys, since I promoted Sunshine Square here, can you all consider to have a Sunshine Store in Balik Pulau please :) ??

Real Property Gain Tax is back!

I guess most of you would have known by now, RGPT of 5% is back. Looks like there are more considerations to be done whether to sell off or renting out current house.

We're very excited about Balik Pulau house though, thinking of the peaceful life, better air quality and hopefully the highway will be ready for shorter time to workplace. Let's cross our fingers and hope some type of super/ hyper market, be it Sunshine or Giant or Tesco or Careffour will set its presence in Balik Pulau. When ppl hear that we plan to move to BP when Palmyra is ready, their first expresssion, "So Far!!!! Are you sure????" Ya, that is currently my worry as well, but think positive!

I'm sorry that there have been no updates, too busy to go to the site for some photos on project progress. To the readers, pls send in any photos if you have, due acknowledgement will be given!

RM5!

We had to go to the developer's office in Jelutong today because we "owe" the developer RM5 from the initial 5% payment. This is due to the difference in calculation method between the bank and us, where the bank performs rounding. Haih.. the Belleview lady told us that she had to call another buyer who "owe" them RM1!

Anyway, we were informed that there are still few units left, but the price of 20X62 is around RM416k now (~20k increase from my purchase price).

For those readers who have some photos on the latest site update, do email it to us at emandjay@gmail.com so that we can share to the rest of the future neighbours :)
How I wish developers can install some CCTV at their site so that anxious buyers can constantly view the site development, instead of driving all the way there. It's a good practice though before you actually move in and need to travel that far everyday :)

Hubby and I are hoping that some type of supermarket/ hypermarket, be it Sunshine, or Careffour to launch its presence in Balik Pulau. It will be perfect then!

SnP signed by Developer

We received out copy of SnP from the lawyer's office yesterday. Developer signed the SnP on 9th Sept 2009, let's wait for 2 years from now on. Signed lotsa documents on bank loans also.

Basically, we're quite disappointed by the "post-sales" customer service given by the EON Bank agent. We had to sms him for updates instead of vice versa. He promised to contact us to deliver us the cheque book, but no news until we received a letter informing us to collect it by a certain date before it gets cancelled. There is again extra charges of RM7.50 for the cheque book.
Lesson learnt: Don't limit yourself to a partner bank in the beginning. Give a chance to the other bank which may offer the same rate, but their level of service maybe different (better?)

Palmyra site as of 16 Aug 2009

We made a trip to Palmyra's last Sunday and this is how it looks like now. Not too sure if this is considered progressing, feels like it looked the same a month ago, haha.

We just noticed that the back part of the house, facing the back lane does not have any solid door enclosing it. Can you imagine while going to the toilet at night, someone is standing at the back saying Hi to you from outside. Gosh! Definitely a need for reno!

Bank Loan

We went to sign the letter of acceptance with EON bank for their Super Easi Flexi Loan. Apparently, one has to apply for a current account with this loan and minimum amount to open an account is RM500. Some "hidden cost & procedures" that we have discovered with EON's loan:

- RM10 monthly fee will be charged for each current account (RM3600 gone into thin air for a 30 years loan)
- Since you have a current account, most probably you want to view your transaction online. Then you need to apply an ATM card which charges RM8/ year
- Stamp duty of RM10 (one time deal)
- You are forced to apply for their credit card. It is stated in the loan offer letter. I think this is really unethical. How can you literally force people to apply for a credit card?
- You need to sign a blank form for Uni Asia fire insurance application. In case the developer (or you) fails to renew the fire insurance, they will "apply" the insurance for you and charge to your loan.
- MRTA charges go into Term Loan which you must start paying once loan takes into effect (Not when the house is completed)

We should have check out AmBank's loan offerings. Nevertheless, we still signed the loan offer letter, haha.

Restarting the Teluk Kumbar-Pekan Genting Road Construction

http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2009/7/3/north/4230295&sec=north

THE RM57mil Teluk Kumbar-Pekan Genting road straightening and widening project in Penang is set to be revived as a new developer has been appointed to complete the abandoned project.

State Works, Utilities and Transportation Committee chairman Lim Hock Seng said the Federal Government had chosen Sarahon Construction Sdn Bhd, a Class A bumiputra contractor from Sarawak, to finish the project by late November next year.

“The company was awarded the contract with a value of RM42.05mil and given possession of the site on May 27.

The unfinished road structures at the Teluk Kumbar-Pekan Genting road will be finally completed by a newly appointed contractor by November 2010.

“The project was about 76% complete before it was abandoned. We have about 24% to go and under the contract with the new developer, work has to be completed within 78 weeks,” Lim said.

Asked why the completion of the project was projected so late despite more than three quarters of it being finished, Lim said the developer had to set up the basic infrastructure for work to proceed.

“The contractor will have to start anew in terms of work facilities as the ones that were there before had either been demolished, removed or stolen.

“They will have to do everything from setting up the official command post, installing a telephone line, making sure there is an adequate electricity and water supply and so on.

“It will take one to two months to have the work in full swing so the time frame in the contract allows for that,” he said.

An unfinished bridge, one of six to be built under the RM57mil Teluk Kumbar-Pekan Genting road straightening and widening project, will be finally completed by a newly appointed contractor.

The road straightening and widening project is slotted under Package 2B of a three-package project to straighten and improve the road between Bayan Lepas and Balik Pulau.

It commenced in April 2005 and was originally scheduled for completion in April 2007 but was abandoned in May last year after several extensions of the deadline.

The project, which is deemed to be crucial for positive development of the Balik Pulau area, involves the building of six bridges to cut off road bends that will make journeys to Penang island’s southwest area both safer and shorter.

“The construction of the road will shorten the drive (from Bayan Lepas to Balik Pulau) by about 10 minutes.

“The journey will also be cut down from 4.5km to 3.3km in distance. The road is very important for Balik Pulau’s growth and to uplift the surrounding areas,” Lim said.

Exact location of Palmyra on Wikimapia

For those who wish to take an aerial view of the Palmyra Residences project, you can head here:


http://wikimapia.org/#lat=5.3371563&lon=100.2148175&z=17&l=0&m=b





This is a simplistic map taken from Belleview's website, obviously not according to scale (click to enlarge):

Welcome!

Palmyra Residences, Balik Pulau, Penang.

This is our largest investment so far, taking risk, hoping that Balik Pulau will be a more develop by the time Palmyra is completed with the revived highway making the place more acessible from Bayan Lepas. We visited Pinang Village (by BSK) few days ago, the houses were actually quite nice and bigger, selling at RM388,888. However, the location of Palmyra is more strategic with many facilities established.

We placed a RM5000 booking fee for Type A (20x62) double storey terrace sold at RM398,900 last Friday (24th July). We had to make quick and prompt decision as the houses were selling like hot cakes. The property number 132 that we targeted at their Queensbay Mall exhibition were sold by the time we visited the show house in the evening. We had to settle for another unit (which we'll keep a secret here). We managed to secure the 5/95 loan package as well. EON Bank and AmBank are the developer's financing partners.

The prices as of 27th July 2009:
Type A Double Storey Terrace (20x60): RM398900
Type B Double Storey Terrace (20x64): RM424900

We visited the show room, the house is nicely designed, however some of the things I wish the developer will take note (saying this as a wife and a mother):
- include a balcony instead of letting the car park roof top go to a waste. At least we can hang our laundry there
- instead of having a maid's room, to have a nice 4th room with a window for ventilation. Not everyone can afford (or want) a maid.
- have 2 more air cond points for the 2nd and 3rd room
- have 2 more ceiling fan points for the 2nd and 3rd room
- the small balcony at the 2nd bedroom is not really necessary.

This is probably the biggest loan for people like us, young working adults to bear, so let's pray that prices will appreciate fast and Balik Pulau will be the next hot item in Penang!

photo from Belleview website

If you have any new updates on the project development or photos, pls send it to us at emandjay@gmail.com

We will give due credit to contributors should we decide to publish your contribution!