UDA to award 50% of Bukit Bintang City Centre jobs to Bumiputera contractors

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 4): UDA Holdings Bhd, owner of the 19.4 acres land which once housed the Pudu prison, has pledged to award 50% of the construction work for the Bukit Bintang City Centre (BBCC) to Bumiputera contractors.

However, its chairman Datuk Johari Abdul Gani stressed that only qualified and experienced contractors will be eligible to undertake works for the project.

He also said profits gained by UDA from the BBCC, whose design borrows heavily from the Battersea Power Station project in London, will be channelled towards the redevelopment of areas such as Kampung Baru.

Johari was speaking to reporters after the signing of the joint development agreement on BBCC between UDA, Eco World Development Group Bhd (Eco World) and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).

The project, with an estimated gross development value of RM8 billion, will be jointly developed by a consortium company, BBCC Development Sdn Bhd, with UDA and Eco World (fundamental: 0.95; valuation: 0.3) each holding a 40% stake, while the EPF will have 20%.

As the land owner, UDA will receive about RM1 billion from awarding the development rights of the land to BBCC Development.

BBCC Development will be applying for a development order for the project, which could take six months. The whole project is expected to be completed in eight years.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)