KUALA LUMPUR: The £10 billion (RM42.8 billion) Battersea Power Station project in London would not have happened without the support of the Malaysian consortium, says mayor of London Boris Johnson.
Thanks to the Battersea redevelopment, Johnson said London might see more regeneration projects kicking off soon.
“The Battersea project shows that there is absolutely no limits to regeneration projects and power stations can successfully be transformed into restaurants, hotels and theatres.
“This will enable us to get on with more regeneration projects across the city, with thousands of homes waiting to be built,” he said during a luncheon dialogue session titled, “A Tale of Two Great Cities: KL & London”, here, yesterday.
SP Setia Bhd, Sime Darby Bhd (with 40 per cent stakes each) and the Employees Provident Fund (20 per cent) are developing the Battersea project.
Battersea Power Station is a decommissioned coal-fired power station located on the south bank of the River Thames, an inner-city district of South West London. It comprises two individual power stations built in the 1930s and was decommissioned in the 1980s.
The consortium bought the 15.8ha site for RM1.99 billion in September 2012.
To date, it has secured up to £2.14 billion in financing for Phase One, Two and Three of the iconic redevelopment.
The project will be the most complete development with business and four-star hotels, affordable and luxury apartments, retail outlets, restaurants, cafes and bars, shops, schools, a spa and wellness centre, a specialist medical centre, a high-end education and art centre and Malaysian Square.
“I think it (the project) is fantastic... we are very pleased of the new homes,” Johnson said.
Battersea Project Holding Co Ltd chairman Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin said the development was progressing smoothly, having recorded more than £1.8 billion in sales under 26 months.
He said more than 50 per cent of the 539 apartments in Phase 3A had been sold while 90 per cent of the 254 units in Phase Two had been snapped up.
For Phase One, which has 866 apartments, only five penthouses are left, each worth more than £20 million.
Liew said the Britons accounted for 60 per cent of total sales while 15 per cent by Malaysians. “It shows that people love our project. They believe in it and see that it will do well in the long term,” Liew said.
Liew said Phase Five, Six and Seven would commence in three to four years as the land has been turned into a stockyard to make way for the northern line extension of the London Underground from Kennington to the Battersea Power Station.
“With the approval by the British Parliament last month, the tube line will start March next year,” he said.