Sime Darby Property: Green homes the way forward

KUALA LUMPUR: Sime Darby Property Bhd, a wholly owned unit of PLANTATION [] giant SIME DARBY BHD [], believes that its carbon-neutral residence, illustrated by its prototype Idea House, would be in demand in the future as awareness on sustainability takes root among the local population.

“Some elements will be in demand immediately and some other elements that will take longer,” Sime Darby Property managing director Tunku Datuk Putra Badlishah Tunku Annuar said at a signing ceremony yesterday. The company signed an MoU for technical collaboration with 16 other companies to pull in innovations, solutions and technologies to improve energy efficiency in homes.

The Sime Darby Idea House is a carbon-neutral concept dwelling to demonstrate sustainable housing. Being the first of such a concept in Southeast Asia, the Idea House is set to be the benchmark in sustainable design in the region.

“The idea is for us to use the learning and TECHNOLOGY [] from Idea House and to integrate that into our future projects,” he said.
Notably, the rollout of the new technologies used for this product would come at a higher cost. Tunku Badlishah said it would depend on whether people were willing to pay for it. “The key is to look at the life-cycle of the product. Although it might cost a lot more today, you will save more in the long term.”

In its financial year ended June 30, 2009, the property division contributed 14% to Sime Darby group’s earnings. The property arm posted a resilient net profit of RM461.9 million, up 4% from FY08.

Separately, Badlishah said Sime Darby was still waiting for a formal approval on its Selangor Vision City project (SVC). “We have done whatever we need to do in terms of presentation and so on to the authorities. The response have been very positive, so we just need to get it in writing,” he said.

The SVC is located along the Guthrie Corridor Expressway (GCE) from Lagong to Bukit Jelutong where 11,000 acres (4,451.5ha) of the proposed 45,175-acre stretch belong to Sime Darby. It would also incorporate existing townships such as Subang Jaya and Bukit Jelutong.
He also noted that the rising interest rates had not weighed heavily on the property developer.

“We have been fortunate. Whatever we have launched has received very good response. All our recent launches have about 80% take-up rate in the first month.

“In the long run, if it keeps going up, definitely there will be an impact. But for now, we haven’t felt any impact from the rising interest rates because demand for our products is still strong,” Badlishah said.