KUALA LUMPUR: UDA Holdings Bhd has been tasked with reviving its ageing and underutilised assets into premium commercial spaces with affordable rental rates for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), says Steven Sim.
The Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister said he was interested in UDA's efforts to unlock the value of its assets, as the holding company, which has operated for more than 50 years, had various underutilised assets.
“UDA is an organisation that has been around for more than half a century. It has certain assets (including land and buildings), and some of these assets have grown old.
“UDA's current leadership has taken the initiative to ensure the value of these assets can be explored more widely. Don't let them be abandoned, don't just leave them as they are,” he said during a visit to Chinatown 1974 here on Thursday (Sept 24).
Sim noted that Chinatown 1974 was an example of how such assets could be given a new lease of life while creating opportunities for businesses and entrepreneurs.
“This is a building that is more than 40 years old, and had been unoccupied for five years.
“Now, it has been given a new lease of life and houses eight businesses,” he added.
Sim said the revitalisation also brought wider benefits to the surrounding area.
“It brings added value to the surrounding area, attracts tourists, increases the value of assets around it and, of course, provides employment and entrepreneurial opportunities to local entrepreneurs,” he said.
He said the approach was important to ensure MSMEs could access premium commercial spaces at affordable rental rates.
“I see the effort by UDA to unlock the value of its assets by providing premium commercial spaces, but with rental rates at the MSME level, which is sufficiently affordable, particularly for small traders and businesses,” he said.
Sim added that affordable access to such spaces would help smaller businesses enter city-centre markets.
“If initiatives involving premium commercial spaces are only handled by the private sector, with perhaps higher rental rates, MSMEs will find it difficult to penetrate markets in major cities or secondary cities.
“Small traders and hawkers should not only be able to operate on the outskirts of cities, in villages or rural areas,” he said.
He said the approach would continue at locations including Heritage Valley in Kuala Lumpur, A-Walk in Melaka and Pudu Sentral.
“Efforts to rejuvenate our commercial spaces so that they become more premium and better meet the tastes of the market, with rental rates affordable to MSMEs, will be continued by UDA.
“Not only the three locations I mentioned, but also in other major cities throughout Malaysia, so that the MSMEs sector, particularly small traders and hawkers, can have the opportunity to penetrate markets in city centres,” he said.
Sim said UDA must avoid allowing its ageing properties to become “tired assets” that were difficult for businesses to use while continuing to incur maintenance costs.
“Don't let our ageing assets become what people call ‘tired assets’.
“Entrepreneurs find it difficult to use them, people do not visit them and so on, but we still have to bear the maintenance costs,” he said.
Moving forward, Sim said UDA had identified about four to five assets nationwide for revitalisation.
“If our agencies today, with the right management, strategic approach and effort, get the strategy right, then we can deliver premium products and services to our stakeholders,” he said.
