New LRT extension to connect Kelana Jaya to Klang through Shah Alam?

PETALING JAYA: The feasibility study of the third light rail transit (LRT 3) line connecting Kelana Jaya to Klang through Shah Alam is expected to be completed by the end of next month and the project is expected to cost between RM8bil and RM9bil, said a source close to the matter.

“This will translate into about RM230mil per km on average to cater to the most populated and industrialised cities in Selangor.

“Looking at the environment now, where the Government is pushing towards the development of public rail infrastructure networks, it should receive the green light soon.

“After the feasibility study by Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd is completed, it will then go to the relevant authority for approval.

“And this will be good news for the people in Shah Alam and Klang as well as contractors involved in the ongoing RM7bil LRT extension of the Ampang and Kelana Jaya line to bid for more jobs,” the source told StarBiz.

Some of the main stations, according to the source, would be Glenmarie, Stadium Shah Alam, i-City, UiTM, Bandar Baru Klang, South Port and Bandar Sultan Sulaiman.

“There are several route options being proposed and this LRT 3 is going to be connected to the Kelana Jaya line and the mass rapid transit line.

“The LRT 3 is going to be 30km to 34km in length with projected ridership of 22,000 passengers per hour per direction,” he said.

As of 2010, Shah Alam has a total population of 216,000 while Klang has 909,500 people.

Currently, the Greater Kuala Lumpur region is witnessing the ongoing construction of the RM23bil Sungai Buloh-Kajang MRT project undertaken by MRT Corp and its project delivery partner, a joint venture between Gamuda Bhd and MMC Corp Bhd.

The line with 31 stations serves a corridor with an estimated population of 1.2 million people.

Meanwhile, Prasarana’s LRT extensions of the Kelana Jaya and Ampang line with additional 13 stations for each line will be fully completed by June 2015.

The extension of the Kelana Jaya and Ampang line will see the construction of 17km of elevated tracks extending from Kelana Jaya station to Putra Heights and another 17.7km track from Sri Petaling station to Putra Heights.

The Kelana Jaya line extension will increase passenger capacity up to 98,000 during peak hours, while the extended Ampang line can cater to 79,800 passengers.

Upon completion, the two lines will connect at the Putra Heights station, forming a complete rail system in the Klang Valley.

STAR, October 21, 2013

Shopping malls still in demand in Shah Alam

FILLING up shops in malls is not a problem in Shah Alam due to the limited supply in the area, despite the fact that this sub-segment of the property sector has reached its saturation point.

“The industry has reached its saturation for over the last 10 years. We are in an oversupply situation but we still have developers who are interested to build malls,” says Henry Butcher Shopping Centre Consultants Sdn Bhd managing director Tan Hai Hsin.

“However, Shah Alam does not face any serious oversupply (situation). One of the reasons is because cinemas were not allowed to operate in Shah Alam until last year,” he adds.

Tan tells StarBizWeek that generally in the Klang Valley, the occupancy rate for shopping malls is 85%.

“Some malls are very well occupied and some are empty. It depends on how it is set up, the type of properties and the management,” he says.

A mall that is 100% owned by a single owner tends to do better than a mall that is strata titled, as all the retail shops in the mall are individually owned, Tan opines.

“(The shops or outlets) are individually owned; it is difficult to manage because you are dealing with hundreds of owners, each of them chooses their own tenants.

“Hence, there is no control on tenant mix. This factor tends to effect the success of a shopping mall,” Tan says.

Meanwhile, Tan believes the upcoming CentralPlaza@i-City shopping mall has huge success potential, because of its location.

To date, there are only two other shopping centres on the whole stretch of the Federal Highway, one is Mid Valley which is in Kuala Lumpur and the other one is a cluster of shopping malls (examples are Empire and Subang Parade) in Subang.

“The next mall on the Federal Highway will be the CentralPlaza@i-City located in Shah Alam. It will cater to a sizeable market close to 700,000 of Shah Alam’s population and some 900,000 of Klang’s population,” Tan says.

He says that upon completion, the CentralPlaza@i-City shopping mall will be the largest shopping centre in Shah Alam. It is due for completion by end of 2016 with a gross floor area of around 1.5 million sq ft and net leaseable area of around 1 million sq ft.

“When it comes to malls today, size matters,” Tan says, adding that the Klang Valley “urban family” prefers to go to bigger shopping centres, particularly during weekends.

“They want to go to a place where they can spend hours, at least half of the day, there, because it offers various choices in one place for all the family members,” he says.

Having said that, shoppers between Shah Alam and Klang will soon enjoy more options because CentralPlaza@i-City is going to adopt a Thai retail concept.

Previously, according to Tan, most of Malaysia’s shopping malls adopted the Japanese retail concept, where the hypermarket, or supermarket, is located below and retail shops above it.

“Nowadays, we are moving away from that concept, although we still have a hypermarket in a mall. However, with hypermarkets mushrooming in Malaysia, more people prefer to make a short trip to a hypermarket, or to smaller malls to run their daily errands and utilise their weekend to enjoy the environment of a bigger mall,” he explains.

Nonetheless, Tan notes that having Thai retail in the country is a “refreshing” concept, because most of international brands that come to Malaysia will start their journey in South-East Asia in Singapore first, as seen in brands such as Topshop, Uniqlo and H&M.

“Brands usually establish themselves in Singapore before they come to Malaysia.

“However, many Malaysians and Singaporeans like to go to Thailand for shopping, not because of the brand but for its design and value for money,” he says.

I-Bhd signed a memorandum of understanding with Thai-based mall designer specialist Central Pattana Public Co Ltd (CPN) last year to jointly build a mall at i-City.

I-Bhd through its unit i-City Properties Sdn Bhd intends to hold 40% stake and CPN, through its local subsidiary, the remainder in the joint venture company.

The mall will be designed to cater to the needs of Thai retailers.

“Klang Valley people have always opined that most of the new malls share similar concept. Hence, Central Plaza will be able to offer a refreshing concept,” Tan says.

Adding to that, he says the accessibility of Central Plaza will be a further catalyst for its success. “They are going to build a ‘fly-over’ that will be directly linked to the mall, similar to Mid Valley.”

According to I-Bhd representative, the design for the mall is expected to be ready within a month. It will be managed by CPN.

In terms of retail space within the i-City township, Tan believes that both the commercial space outside of the mall and the retail space within will be able to complement each other.

“Some retail shops operate more suitably outside malls and this adds variety within the township,” Tan explains

Source The Star, June 22, 2013