27 November, MELBOURNE – The launch of the Malaysian Developers Council of Australia (MDCA) Inc. in Melbourne, Australia recently was a huge success with more than 100 real estate professionals coming together to celebrate the momentous event early this week. Among those present were the Consul-General of Malaysia to Victoria, Westmoreland Palon, Managing Director in PwC Australia’s Financial Advisory practice, Dato Jasmin Kaur, S P Setia Melbourne’s CEO, Datuk Choong Kai Wai and other industry juggernauts in Australia.
“We are very pleased by the support shown to us by our business associates and those in the industry,” said Datuk Choong who helms the council as President of MDCA. “Our goal is to formally introduce MDCA as the platform for Malaysian developers looking to grow their presence in Australia.”
Tim Storey, Managing Director of Colliers International’s Residential division in Victoria, echoed Datuk Choong’s thoughts saying, “Malaysian property developers play a significant role in shaping the local economy.” He added, “One of S P Setia’s recent projects, Sapphire By The Gardens, not only meets the market’s demands for premium apartments, its partnership with Shangri-La Hotel will also strengthen Melbourne’s hospitality industry through job creation for the future.
“The response has been overwhelming,” said Alex Lim, director of MRCB Australia who is also Vice President of MDCA. “Our members see the value in our offer of knowledge sharing in industry best practices, as well as networking opportunities.”
Other strong showing from Malaysian developers in Melbourne include Beulah International’s Southbank by Beulah, an integrated development set to become Australia’s tallest tower within Southbank, as well as OSK Property’s Melbourne Square which sees a whole precinct revitalized through its extensive amenities. Several other developers have also ventured out to the suburbs, with EcoWorld International recently breaking ground for Yarra One in South Yarra and MRCB Australia’s construction of 1060 Carnegie well under way.
The launch event, which was hosted by MDCA Inc at the Melbourne office of PwC Australia, concluded with a ribbon-cutting ceremony by MDCA’s Patron, Mr. Westmoreland Palon, Advisor, Dato Jasmin Kaur, as well as its Executive Committee, Datuk Choong Kai Wai of SP Setia Melbourne (President), Alex Lim of MRCB Australia (Vice President), Jeffrey Ong of EcoWorld International Melbourne (Treasurer) and Salihah Kamal of Colliers International – Residential (Secretary.)