UEM-Samsung JV gets job to build Malaysia's tallest building

The tower, located within the enclave of Merdeka Stadium and Stadium Negara, would be the tallest building in the country, which is targeted to complete in the next four years.(File pic Tan Sri Hamad Kama Piah)

KUALA LUMPUR: Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) has awarded the contract to build Menara Wawasan or also known as Menara KL118 here to the joint venture of South Korea’s Samsung C&T and UEM Group Bhd.

PNB president and group chief executive Tan Sri Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman (pic) said: “The contract is worth about RM3.4bil”.

He was speaking to reporters after announcing the income distribution of Amanah Saham Nasional 3 Imbang (ASN 3) for the financial year ending Nov 30.

The tower, located within the enclave of Merdeka Stadium and Stadium Negara, would be the tallest building in the country, which is targeted to complete in the next four years.

According to reports, there were initially six parties bidding for the construction portion of the skyscraper including Samsung-UEM. The others were IJM Corp-Norwest Holdings Sdn Bhd-Shimizu Corp, Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd-China State Construction Engineering Corp, WCT Bhd-Arabtec Construction LLC, TSR Capital Bhd-Daewoo Group and Seacera Group Bhd-Spaz Sdn Bhd-China’s Sinohydro Corp-Shanghai Construction Group.

Reports said the UEM-Samsung consortium was picked because of its good relationship with Turner Construction Co, which is the project manager of KL118 Tower.

The KL118 Tower is planned to be more than 500m tall and will surpass the 452m Petronas Twin Towers.

Besides being a new landmark in Kuala Lumpur city centre, KL118 is expected to generate a gross development value of more than RM6bil over five years.

PNB, via its wholly owned subsidiary PNB Merdeka Ventures Sdn Bhd, is the owner of KL118.

The net lettable area for office space alone, excluding the hotel portion, is about 150,000 sq m. The tower will also be connected to a mass rapid transit station.

It is said that 20 floors would be reserved for a 250-room hotel to be operated by an international luxury hotel group.

Samsung C&T had experience participating in the building of skyscrapers, which included the Petronas Twin Towers and the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which is currently the tallest building in the world at 828m.

Meanwhile, Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd will distribute a dividend of 6.2 sen per share for ASN 3 for the financial year ending Nov 30.

PNB chairman Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid said that the dividend distribution would be at the same rate as last year.