KUALA LUMPUR, June 6 (Bernama) -- UDA Holdings Bhd hopes that a fair and
commensurate compensation will be offered by MRT Corp Bhd to the affected party
and Bumiputera traders if its building, Bukit Bintang Plaza (BB Plaza), has to
be demolished.
There is a possibility that the plaza including a part of the Yayasan
Selangor building will be demolished to make way for the building of an
underground station under the government''s mega project, My Rapid Transit.
UDA''s Chairman, Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said if the BB Plaza is demolished,
the company stood to lose 25 per cent or RM20-RM25 million of its annual revenue
comprising rental collections from its lots in the building.
"Nevertheless, what also concerns us is the potential losses to the
Bumiputera traders who would be affected throughout the implementation of the
MRT project which is estimated to take four to five years," he told reporters
after launching the transformation of UDA''s information technology system.
Todate, 150 retailers or 60 per cent of the retailers in BB Plaza are
Bumiputeras.
"We have also projected that the fair amount of compensation to be paid out
for demolishing the building should be in the region of RM370 million," Nur
Jazlan said.
He said the plaza would also be its third building to be surrendered to MRT
Corp in making way for the MRT.
Other two buildings that have already made way are the UO Superstore and
Plaza Warisan.
"We had received RM80 million for those two buildings from MRT Corp even if
the property value for the buildings currently stands at RM120 million. This
however is a sacrifice made by UDA to ensure that the government''s economic
develoment plan is successfully carried out."
Nur Jazlan also said that no definite date has been given on when MRT Corp
would be taking over the building as it was still under discussion.
Nonetheless, any decision would depend on the Ministry of Finance which is
the ultimate owner of UDA, he said.
On the transformation of UDA''s information system which is to cost RM13
million, Nur Jazlan said it was part of UDA''s efforts to provide more efficient
services to its clients.--BERNAMA
NSF SD