The Datuk Lee Chong Wei trophy winner Alacarte finishing ahead of the pack in the recent race.
KUALA LUMPUR: The long-delayed plan to relocate the Selangor Turf Club (STC) premises from Sungei Besi to a bigger land in Sungai Tinggi is set to move forward, spurred by a court ruling.
Berjaya Land Bhd
(Bland) said its subsidiary Berjaya Tagar Sdn Bhd (BTSB) had won a judicial review against the Selangor state government and other relevant authorities, as it sought to move forward the approval process and procedures for the project.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, it said it had applied for a judicial review in the Shah Alam High Court after the state government and relevant state agencies failed to act in order for BTSB to be able to fulfil the outstanding conditions precedents in the sale and purchase agreement (SPA) with the STC.
According to BLand, BTSB had seen no result from its various applications and requests for them to proceed with the approval process.
The project has stalled for more than a decade. The signing of the SPA between BTSB (then called Selat Makmur Sdn Bhd) and STC took place in July 2004.
BTSB, making the best offer of RM640mil, had beaten 18 other developers to win the tender to buy STC’s 244.79-acre land in Sungei Besi, where the current equestrian club is located.
The purchase consideration was to be satisfied by paying RM35mil in cash to STC and giving the club a piece of 750-acre freehold land in Sungai Tinggi (near Rawang) complete with a newly-built international-standard racecourse. STC will be relocated there from its present site in Sungai Besi.
On BLand’s plan for the land acquired from STC, it was to undertake a mixed development project, including a shopping complex. The preliminary estimated development value was RM6.3bil and BLand expected to make RM1.2bil profit over the 10-year development period.
In August 2012, BTSB and STC entered into a supplemental agreement whereby the Bland subsidiary was entitled to ask STC for an extension to fulfill the conditions precedent, but for each one-year extension, BTSB must pay STC RM3mil in cash.
In its announcement to Bursa then, BLand also noted that the delay in the completion of the proposals was expected to increase its total construction cost at Sungai Tinggi from RM605mil to about RM1bil, as the cost of building materials rose.
The supplemental agreement also extended the period to fulfill the conditions precedent to Jan 18, 2018, just three months from now.
Among the still-unmet conditions precedent is getting the approval from the Selangor Town and Country Planning Department on the retabling of the amended master layout plan that was resubmitted on Aug 19, 2008.
That department’s approval must be obtained first before BTSB can get the Hulu Langat District Council’s approval for the development order and the state exco’s green-light for the conversion and subdivision of the Sungai Tinggi land.
BLand said the High Court ruled on Thursday that BLand, BTSB and Berjayacity Sdn Bhd (the turnkey contractor of the new turf club) had a legitimate expectation that the site would be developed for the new turf club project, and that the Selangor state government and Selangor Town and Country Planning Department had failed to re-table the execution of the project.
The court said the respondents had acted unreasonably when they failed to have regard to all relevant considerations and disregarded all improper considerations to re-table the execution of the project. In these circumstances, it has resulted in unfairness to the applicants - BLand, BTSB and Berjayacity - as it is tantamount to an abuse of power.
In respect of the construction of the equestrian centre, the High Court said the three applicants were allowed to continue with its development and construction.
The High Court also allows for compensation to be paid to the applicants, the amount of which will be decided in future proceedings.
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