PETALING JAYA: See Hoy Chan Holdings, the developer of Bandar Utama township, is planning to venture abroad to widen its revenue base- Director Datuk Teo Chiang Kok said going abroad is a natural progression for the group, especially since conditions for developers in Malaysia are getting tougher- Teo, in a recent interview with Business Times said countries under its radar include Indonesia, Vietnam, India and secondary cities in China- "It could be an entire township or just an office building --- we are still exploring- It is a natural progression to look beyond our borders," Teo said- According to him, the property development environment in Malaysia makes it difficult to obtain sizeable landbank- Its Bandar Utama land, for example, covers 405ha- Teo added that the requirement for allocating low cost housing, cross subsidies for utility companies, Bumiputera quotas and discounts add to the cost of housing and reduces yield- "We will go where opportunities are better and where things can be developed more efficiently- In India and China, return on investment is faster and better," he said- SHC is also interested in participating in the 1Malaysia Mall projects proposed under the Economic Transformation Plan, that aims to take Malaysian retailers and mall operators abroad- Besides houses, the Bandar Utama development also houses commercial properties, which includes the 1Utama Shopping Centre, Plaza IBM, KPMG Tower, the five-star One World Hotel and the 1 First Avenue office- The next development on the cards is for a four-star 450-room hotel and a convention centre with some 18,000 sq m space- "We will submit the proposal for approval by year-end and it should be ready within three years," Teo said- The convention centre will be built in such a way that it will be connected to the new hotel as well as to two more office towers, each 30-storey high- Beyond that, the plan for Bandar Utama includes the establishment of a hospital for which a 3ha site has been set aside- And next to the hospital are plans for the setting up of a retirement village- Meanwhile, Teo, who had previously not been keen on floating its shares on the stock exchange, is now open to the possibility of listing a real estate investment trust (REIT)- "We have been approached to look at REITS- (The setting up of) REIT looks interesting, but in terms of timing, we are not there yet --- we need our commercial properties to mature a little more and reach critical mass," he said- He added that the properties could take another three to five years to mature and the company needs a few more buildings, within or outside Bandar Utama- ...

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