SP Setia Bhd (8664), the country's largest developer by sales has won a RM300 million project to build and operate the Penang International Convention and Exhibition Centre (sPICE), Bloomberg reported, citing an email statement from the Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng- Last Thursday, Business Times reported that the property developer was the front runner and on the verge of winning the job- Securing the project should bode well for SP Setia, which posted sales of RM1-74 billion and a net profit of RM251-81 million in the year ended October 31 2010- The project aims to create a "Penang People's Park" that includes the country's first subterranean sPICE, a 2-83 hectares public park on the rooftop, a refurbished and upgraded Penang International Sports Arena (Pisa), a refurbished and upgraded Aquatic Centre and a four-star hotel with retail outlets and a spacious parking lot- The project will be developed through a public-private partnership agreement between the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) and developer SP Setia Bhd's unit Eco Meridean Sdn Bhd- On September 3 2010, SP Setia had bought 2 ordinary shares of RM1-00 each in Eco Meridian Sdn Bhd, resulting in the private company becoming a wholly owned unit of SP Setia- Financing for the Penang project will see MPPP injecting some RM50 million, through a combination of land and cash, while Eco Meridean will finance the rest- The proposed sPICE, which initially came with a RM50 million priceline, has been mired in controversy ever since Lim proposed it- One of the concerns raised was that the project would incur huge expenditure, which could result in the council becoming insolvent- Lim, however, claimed the council could save some RM25 million from the refurbishment, repairs and upgrading work on Pisa and the Aquatic Centre and that Eco Meridean will pay RM13-5 million for land to build a four-star hotel to complement sPICE- This means that the net sum of MPPP's investment in the project would be RM11-5 million- Work on the project is expected to start within three to six months' time and will be completed in three years- ...

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