KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Housing and Real Estate Developers Association (Shareda) is confident that there is still strong demand for commercial buildings in Sabah.
Its president, Francis Goh, said the notion that Sabah was experiencing an oversupply of commercial buildings was a subjective one.
Goh said he was asked the same question a few years ago whether there was a glut of commercial buildings in Sabah.
“At that time there were 13 malls under construction,” said Goh who is the managing director of Arah Permai Sdn Bhd.
Now Sabah is ahead of its neighbour Sarawak in terms of growth in retail malls.
“We have big retail malls, but in Kuching there aren’t many,” he said at the introduction ceremony of Wisma Tiong Hua project yesterday.
Goh also said that developers in Sabah have helped in the transformation of Kota Kinabalu as it was today.
“Without developers you wouldn’t see KK (Kota Kinabalu) as it is now,” he said.
Goh also mentioned on the importance of branding for a mall as it will allow people to have their own conception as to what they can find at any respective mall.
“For example, Low Yat Plaza has been branded as a place to buy computers and IT (information related) products,” he said.
On the company’s joint venture Wisma Tiong Hua project with land owners, Sabah United Chinese Chambers of Commerce (SUCCC) and United Sabah Chinese Communities Association of Kota Kinabalu (USCCA), Goh described it as a ‘boutique mall”.
The RM300 million project will be constructed on 2.7 acres of land in Karamunsing.
The 16-storey building shall consist of 318 units of hotel suites as well as four levels of retail mall, a banquet hall that can cater for 200 tables and a five-storey carpark.
The development plan for Wisma Tiong Hua has been approved by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman and construction work is expected to begin this December.
“We have applied for the building plan. That will take two months to be approved and we cannot proceed before that,” he said.
Also present at the event was SUCCC president Datuk Seri Panglima Gan Sau Wah who said that the name for Wisma Tiong Hua was meaningful and represented the Chinese people.