Najib ‘dishes out’ RM1b project for Cyberjaya

But according to the prime minister, efforts to develop Cyberjaya hinge on BN being given the mandate to continue to administer the country.

CYBERJAYA: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak today announced the implementation here of a RM1.02-billion mixed development comprising the construction of 2,500 units of residential and commercial units, including 749 units of the 1Malaysia People’s Housing (PR1MA) programme.

He also announced two other urban developments in this Silicon Valley of Malaysia, comprising the construction of a RM62-million mosque and the Cyberjaya City Centre costing about RM6 billion.

Najib said he always gave emphasis to efforts to ensure that the prices of houses for people in the professional and medium-income category were in a range affordable to them.

“We cannot let the market determine the prices, and the government can make a positive intervention in the matter,” he said at the ground-breaking ceremony for the Cyberjaya Mosque.

The prime minister said the PR1MA houses, to be offered for between RM220,000 and RM250,000, would enable the owners to immediately attain a rise in their value-added assets.

“This is what the government is doing, besides giving people the opportunity to own houses. This must also be seen as an effort to generate wealth for the people,” he said.

The mixed development, spread over 50 hectares in Cyber 9, is divided into four phases. The first phase is expected to be launched soon, and the whole project is expected to be fully completed in 2016.

On the mosque, Najib said the house of worship could accommodate 8,500 worshippers and would become the first mosque in the country to be built in accordance with the MS1525 guidelines and the Green Building Index which emphasised energy efficiency and the use of environmentally friendly building materials.

Najib said the mosque would not only reflect Islam as the federal religion as well as devotion to God but also symbolise Islam as a progressive religion that emphasises mastery of science and technology.

Beautiful vision

The 95,000 sq ft mosque on 6.9 hectares will be equipped with a multi-purpose hall and various other amenities. It is expected to be completed in 2015.

The Cyberjaya City Centre covers development on 57 hectares at a gross development value of RM6 billion to support the Cyberjaya City development and will make available commercial, residential and corporate office units. It is to be developed by Cyberview Sdn Bhd (Cyberview) with the collaboration of SP Setia Bhd.

Najib said Cyberjaya, as the ICT hub of the country, was an important component for the attainment of the objectives of the government’s Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).

He said Cyberjaya had become the choice of more than 700 companies, including 35 multinational companies, as the base of their operations, adding that the presence of these ICT-based companies had helped greatly to establish an innovative and creative climate and environment in Cyberjaya.

However, the prime minister said, efforts to develop Cyberjaya as the most modern Silicon city could only be realised if the Barisan Nasional government was given the mandate to continue to administer the country.

He expressed apprehension that the efforts would stagnate if the issue of water (of implementing the Langat 2 water treatment plant project) in Selangor, which existed well before the dissolution of the Dewan Rakyat, was not resolved due to the lack of cooperation of the opposition government in the state.

“All of these are for the benefit of the people of Selangor and the Federal Territory. If the problem cannot be resolved, it will undermine the picture of the beautiful vision that I have painted for Cyberjaya,” he said.

The prime minister said that as a people who gave importance to a bright and progressive future of the country, Malaysians would make the right choice and vote for the BN in the coming general election.

Meanwhile, Cyberview Sdn Bhd chairman Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah said the continuity of the government under Najib’s leadership was important in terms of providing the infrastructure facilities, particularly the supply of clean water for the ICT industry here.

Cyberview, in a statement, said the overall development over the next five years in the area was expected to be in the region of RM20 billion, with RM8 billion being its investment. The total investment in Cyberjaya since 1997 is in the region of RM32 billion.

Cyberview is a government-owned company established in 1996 as the land owner in Cyberjaya, the ICT city of the Malaysian Silicon Valley that was the primary agenda in the implementation of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) of Malaysia.

-Bernama