Last week when I reviewed the top 10 property investment hot spots of 2013 in Malaysia, I did touch a little bit of about Penang Island. Since, I received few emails, requesting me to cover Penang Island review in English language as well. The reason being some of the readers are not good in Chinese language or had never got the chance to learn it. Some have given comments that although they are Chinese by ethnic, their Chinese language is “as good as Tamil language”, thus based on such request, I would write the Penang review in 2 languages, which is in line with our blog’s theme, i.e. Bilingual Property Blog, as we are the only bilingual property review blog in the country.
For Penang property investment, the concentration has been in the Southern part of the Island. This is because the Northern Beach Areas such as from Gurney Drive, Tanjong Tokong, Batu Feringgi, Tanjung Bungah till Teluk Bahang, are flooded with many new developments, there are many projects still under constructions and currently there are oversupplies of condominiums in this vicinities, resulting in “got price but no market” or “price stagnant but no active transactions” kind of situation. Even the popular landed gated and guarded property such as the Moonlight Bay, after Vped for 3 years, the occupancy rate is still low, the occupancy rate is still disappointing low at around 20%, there are still some units available from developer, Ivory Properties, the biggest property developer in Penang.
Above Pic: Moonlight Bay by Ivory Property.
The central part of the Island or Georgetown area has been classified as UNESCO world heritage site, thus there are a numbers of restrictions on the new development such as the maximum height of the new building not to exceed 5 levels and etc. The recent launching of Shorefront Luxury Condominium which next to E&O hotel, needs to follow the UNESCO requirement, when doing their product planning.
Thus the only potential development area is at the south east part of Penang Island. This area covers from the 1st Penang Bridge till the Second Bridge in Batu Maung. There are few big projects ongoing for now in this area. To name a few:-
1) Setia Pearl Island (112 acres), Setia Green, Setia Vista in Sungai Ara, and Setia new commercial development called Setia Spice, in PISA area, inclusive of Intenational Convention and Exhibition Area.
2) Mah Sing’s South Bay development. Southbay township sits on a prime 35-acre site and features integrated commercial and lifestyle developments made up of a mixture of residential suites, office suites, Grade A offices, retail outlets, hotel and resort, and other recreational attractions. (Sources: Mah Sing’s website)
3) IJM’s The LIGHT Waterfront Penang, Pearl Regency Luxury Condo, The Adress, Vertique. For commercial, The Maritime. Besides, IJM also in the plan of building Penang Waterfront Conventional Center (PWCC). Both SP Setia SPICE/ Pisa and IJM’s PWCC can also be used to run the concert.
Based on the above 2 heavy weights conventional centers in the making, Penang will become the hot spots for international convention events. Penang airport has been extended to accommodate the growing numbers of international flights. Since the new DAP government in power in 2008, the Penang has gained greater attention and popularity from foreign investors, one of the indicators would be the number of international flights, for example, flights to and from Penang-Singapore has been increase to 40 flights per week, compared to only 8 flights per week between these 2 international cities before 2008. Flights to other major cities like Bangkok, Hong Kong, Ho Chee Mint City also been increased tremendously.
Below is the brief information on the 2 conventional centers:-
1) SPICE （By SP Setia)
SPICE, or the Subterranean Penang International Conference & Exhibition Centre, is an exhibition centre presently under construction at PISA, Bayan Baru, Penang. It is also often written as sPICE. The project said to cost between RM250 million to RM300 million is being developed by SP Setia Group for the Penang State Government.
SPICE will involve the construction of a semi-subterranean facility for conferences and exhibition. It will enlarge the area available at the Penang International Sports Arena. The project was originally called the Peanng International Convention Centre (PICC) but was renamed in an announcement made by Penang Chief Minister as mentioned in a report in the Star on 16 January, 2011.
SPICE will include the Penang People’s Park, which provides environmentally friendly recreational facilities. I suppose the existing swimming pool at PISA will be upgraded and improved as part of the project. In addition, there will be a ball room and other function rooms. There will also be a multi-storey car park enabling the entire site to have a total of 2,200 parking lots.
The SPICE project has not been without controversy. Residents of Bayan Baru, Relau and other surrounding areas are concerned that SPICE will cause an increase in traffic congestion. As with many controversial projects in Penang (ie the Penang Bridge, the Jelutong Expressway, etc.), there would be many naysayers, but once the benefit is realized, the criticisms are quickly forgotten. Having said that, they are also controversial projects that stick out like sore thumb after their implementation. It goes to be seen whether SPICE will join the former or the latter
(Source: http://www.penang-traveltips.com/spice.htm)
2) PWCC (Penang Waterfront Conventional Center, PWCC) – By IJM
(檳城）檳州第二座會展中心即將在明年動工，預計2017年正式啟用！
隨著檳州政府宣佈將湖內檳城國際體育競技場（PISA）改建為州內首座會展中心“sPICE”後，如今，又有新的一座會展中心出現在島上，恭候國際商家選擇。這座傲立在檳城大橋旁（E-gate對面），望向一整片蔚藍大海的新博覽場地名為“檳城海濱會展中心”（Penang Waterfront Convention Centre，PWCC），面積超過1萬平方公尺，耗資約3億4千600萬令吉。
可當演唱會場地
“檳城海濱會展中心”除了作大型會議及展覽用途之外，還能當成演唱會場地，可供9千個座位，是國內少有的世界級場地。此外，其附近還有設有酒店、購物廣場、辦公大樓和豪華公寓等，生活機能健全。該中心由IJM置地工程（IJM LAND）及新加坡新達城國際會議展覽中心（Singapore Suntec International Convention&Exhibition Center）的擁有單位Suntec國際合建，並由後者管理。
這個集展覽、會議、商務、餐飲、娛樂等多种功能為一體的大型建築，幕後設計師更是大有來頭！操刀者是來自倫敦Vx3建築公司的首席執行員兼設計總監萊銳奧托曼（Larry Oltmanns）。作為國際著名建筑設計大師，在全世界五大洲超過60餘個已建成項目，奧托曼吸引了一批才華橫溢的傑出設計人才共同組建了Vx3設計團隊，其中包括從80年代起一起共事的領導成員。
其國際著名作品包括位於比利時布魯塞爾的北約總部和位於維多利亞港的香港會展中心，另外，新加坡、澳洲阿德雷特以及印尼雅加達等會展中心，亦是其團隊的傲人作品。
林冠英：將成新地標
檳放眼成國際會議重鎮
檳州首席部長林冠英昨日（11日）見證IJM置地工程與Suntec國際簽約時說，這座極具現代感的會展中心在2017年啟用後，勢必成為檳城的新地標，更能協助檳州成為國內外舉辦博覽會或國際會議的重鎮！
他說，會展旅遊是新興的旅遊方式，它借助舉辦國際會議、研討、論壇等會務活動以及各种展覽而開展的旅遊形式，是一種商務旅遊方式。根據大馬相關組織透露，進行類似商務旅遊者每趟行程花費約7千令吉，是一般遊客花費的3倍。 他指出，全國各地目前共有14座知名的會展中心，遺憾的是，沒有一座是在檳城之內。“檳城海濱會展中心”將能填補檳城的缺憾。
“我希望會展中心在2017年1月1日啟用時，我們還是政府。我想見證這歷史性的一刻。”出席埋包括檳州行政議員曹觀友、林峰成、黃漢偉、國會議員黃泉安、州議員黃偉益、沈志勤及郭庭源。
最受歡迎國際會議國家
亞太及中東區檳排第32
Suntec國際檳城分部首席執行員阿倫馬胡說，根據國際會議協會（ICCA）2011年的報告顯示，大馬是亞太及中東地區第七個最受歡迎舉行國際會議的國家，全球排名則為第二十九名。“檳城的排名，為亞太及中東地區第三十二名。若干年後，新的會展中心建成後，排名勢必可以往上爬，吸引更多外國企業來檳召開國際會議或舉辦博覽會。”他說，檳城擁有豐厚的本錢，包括具備世遺的光環以及多元豐富的文化色彩、美食，相信許多遊客會趨之若鶩，爭相走進這個城市。
鄭建民：貫徹“永續經營”理念
會展中心保留綠色概念
IJM集團首席執行員拿督鄭建民說，檳海濱會展中心是該集團旗下工程“The Light”之內的其中一項計劃，目前，他們已在進行填土中，明年將可正式動工。“我們希望這項工程可以給檳州帶來新的氣象，讓檳城在國際上重新被定義。”
他也說，有關會展中心日後將交給新加坡公司負責，對方的實戰經驗豐富，必定能夠協助檳城走向國際，迎接更多來自世界各地的客人。“會展中心的設計理念為‘可永續經營’，因此保留了許多綠色概念。從遠處看來，這座設計新穎的中心，就像是披上了閃閃發亮的外衣，在海洋一角發光發亮。”（摘自：星洲日報／大北馬）