Highland Towers land for sale, 20 years after one of Malaysia’s worst disasters

PETALING JAYA: AmBank (M) Bhd is undertaking a tender exercise involving the sale of bungalow lots and residential units in Highland Towers, 20 years after a major landslide in the area triggered one of Malaysia’s worst disasters.

A bank official dealing with the matter declined to state the reasons it was calling for the tender, saying it would be in contravention of the Banking and Financial Institutions Act 1989 or Bafia to do so.

“We cannot disclose the information on the sale of the properties, but interested parties intending to bid for it can purchase the information memorandum from the bank for RM200 per copy. The memorandum would spell out the relevant information and particulars of the properties as well as the terms and conditions of the sale,” she told StarBiz.

The exercise is being carried out by AmBank, which has the right to the properties, and according to an advertisement in a local English daily yesterday, the deadline for the offer bids must reach the bank by 12pm on Dec 17.

The official added that the acquisition of the properties was on the basis of “As Is Where Is”, which means that a person buying the properties should do so with his or her eyes open. This is to say that the offerer should be the one who would need to evaluate the land and hire a lawyer to do the necessary due diligence on the land as well as the documentation.

Dec 11 would mark Highland Towers’ 20th anniversary since the disaster claimed numerous lives in 1993. The tragedy saw the entire Block 1 of the towers collapsing, claiming 48 lives in the process.

Meanwhile, property consultants expect quite a fair bit of interest from developers in the land for development purposes due to its proximity to KL city centre.

According to Henry Butcher Malaysia director Lim Eng Chong, development land so close to the city is hard to come by these days.

“There would certainly be interest in the land, and the property’s fair value would be subject to a willing buyer-willing seller basis,” Lim said.

AmBank via the advertisement has invited interested parties to submit expression of interest for the 50 freehold vacant bungalow lots surrounding the site of Highland Towers measuring 60,224 sq m, to be sold together with the rights to the assigned interests over 111 units (out of 138 units) in the area.

The bank official said the property was meant for en-bloc sale.