Gutsy
Malakun
rocks
Penampang

Landmark native
building project
seeks government help

By Nurhafizah Yusof
Pictures by Ng Jia Xiang

Penampang means “big rock” in the indigenous Kadazandusun language. And the rice farming district of about 166,000, about a third of them Kadazandusuns, gets its name from a long forgotten village where there were giant rocks. They were the precursors of modern Penampang with its tall buildings and brick houses sitting on what used to be paddy fields. A sprawling 300m-ringgit ($100m) International Technology and Commercial Centre that is taking shape is rocking the suburb of Kota Kinabalu.

It is the biggest private property development in Penampang, according to chief minister Musa Aman who recently laid its foundation at Jalan Pintas. The complex which occupies slightly more than four hectares (10.5 acres) is hailed as a technology and science centre to rival those on the peninsula (Low Yat Plaza in Kuala Lumpur and Digital Mall in Petaling Jaya) and Tokyo’s Akihabara “electric town” where a complete range of computer wares, electrical and electronic goods are sold.

It will have a 5,574-square-metre (60,000-square-foot) exhibition hall, about the size of a football field, a banquet hall for 1,700 people, a few storeys of shopping mall and cinemas, 128 hotel suites, a 325-room business class hotel and a 16-storey office tower.

The man behind it is Clarence Bongkos Malakun who says the ITCC-Penampang is the first major project of his Sabahnilam Enterprise Sendirian Berhad. People in the know say he has guts. But they also note that he has the backing of his multi-millionaire father-in-law Wong Kwok, a famous housing developer. His sister-in-law Susan Wong Siew Guen is the president of the Sabah Housing and Real Estate Developers Association (Shareda).

Malakun is conscious of the risks he is taking and has openly sought help from the state and federal governments. But industry sources say the property would attract cash-rich oil palm growers and investors from China, Hong Kong, Singapore and even peninsular Malaysians. Malakun tells Insight Sabah that he is targeting buyers from Australia, Britain, Brunei and Hong Kong. Prices of his shops range from 400,000 to one million ringgit. He has already received bookings for 108 (30%) of them.

“We are only a small family property development company,” he says. “And we are one of the few local Sabahan bumiputera companies in this business. So, I’m not ashamed to ask help from the chief minister and his government so that we can succeed in this project.”

The Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority (Sedia) has deemed it to be a “private sector initiative project” of the Sabah Development Corridor. So, ITCC-Penampang can seek public funding under prime minister Najib Razak’s massive economic transformation programme (ETP), according to industry officials.

Malakun says his company has already sought help from the federal government to pay for “part of the infrastructure costs” under the “public private initiative facilitation grant”. He hasn’t said how much that would be but he says there is a 10% incentive of which his project is eligible for. That means 30m ringgit.

He says piling is expected soon and the ITCC-Penampang would be ready in three years and four months.

Musa assures Malakun that his government would be “an active facilitator” to get projects quickly off the ground for them.

He notes that Kota Kinabalu city is “congested” with property development which is spilling over to suburbs like Penampang, Putatan and Kinarut. – Insight Sabah