City & Country: Seri Pajam introduces green living to Pajam

THE roads of Pajam in Negeri Sembilan, a little over an hour’s drive from Kuala Lumpur, are lined with old kampung houses that have seen better days. Seri Pajam Development Sdn Bhd, the largest developer there, is looking to change that. Pajam falls under the Nilai district and sits along the main road that connects Kajang and Seremban. Seri Pajam has already introduced modern bungalows and semi-detached houses to the area with Perdana College Heights, which was launched in 2006. Prior to this, such homes could only be found closer to the Seremban city centre. Seri Pajam was established in 1994 and has six ongoing projects with a combined gross development value (GDV) of RM1.52 billion. The developments are Perdana College Heights, Citra Hill & Nada Alam in Pajam, Bandar Warisan Puteri in Seremban, Nusa Intan in Senawang, Tiara Heights in Salak Tinggi and Desa Putera in Bahau. Now, Seri Pajam is offering Pajam a new lifestyle concept. Its director Tey Soo Leng says the developer is introducing green living via Nada Alam — its latest development in Pajam. Nada Alam, which has a GDV of RM630 million, sits on 160 acres of freehold land separated into five precincts with 13 acres of green space. The first phase — Nada 1 — consists of 198 two-storey terraced houses on 20 acres with sizes ranging from 2,366 to 2,545 sq ft. Prices start at RM420,000. With a GDV of RM91.7 million, this phase has 26 facilities, including a herb garden, bamboo walkway, reflexology path, soccer field, mini wetland, viewing tower and gazebos. Previewed in August 2014, Nada 1 has been fully taken up. Seri Pajam is looking to introduce Nada 3 to the market next. Nada 1 will be completed next year while the entire development will take five to six years to complete. “We will continue our concept of green living with a mix of products, including super link, 2-storey terraced and semi-detached homes,” says Tey. Green living Seri Pajam’s new concept will include green living and the reduction of its carbon footprint. “We have semi-open areas in our super-link designs and bicycle bays in all our parks to encourage the residents to cycle,” says Tey. Seri Pajam is also fully incorporating the industrialised building system (IBS) in the construction of Nada Alam. With such green features as rainwater harvesting and extra-wide windows for better ventilation and natural light in these products, one would assume Seri Pajam’s next step would be to go for green building certification. But Tey says not so soon. “This is our first project with so much emphasis on green features. We need better preparations before we go for Green Building Index (GBI) certification. When we are ready, we will definitely go for it.” The GBI is Malaysia’s green rating tool. It has been developed to suit the country’s tropical climate and environment. As green living is new to Nilai and the surrounding areas, Tey says Seri Pajam is testing customer response. Some may say Nada Alam only meets the minimal requirements, but Tey stresses that it has embraced the concept by blending into its natural surroundings, thus reducing the damage of earthworks and other construction processes. Tey: We will continue our concept of green living with a mix of products, including super link, 2-storey terraced and semi-detached homes in Nada Alam “Green living was chosen because of its sustainability. It is more sustainable than other concepts in terms of maintenance and its impact on the surrounding environment. Green living also encourages the growth of the lush greenery in the parks and the delicate wildlife they support. We want to present new homeowners with such parks.” Before construction began, Seri Pajam conducted a river preservation exercise on the site of Nada Alam and also minimised the cutting of trees. The design incorporates a 7km-long jogging path, recycling bins and solar spotlights for the gardens and billboards, among other things.  Besides emphasising green living, Seri Pajam is also introducing new safety features its products. “For property, the most frequent accident is fire, so we will be providing fire blankets, smoke detectors and escape ladders to our developments. Some of these will be introduced in the later phases,” says Tey. “We have got a lot of support from buyers in Seremban, Nilai and KL. About 90% of our buyers are from the Klang Valley.” Tey attributes this to the accessibility of Seri Pajam’s developments via Lebuhraya Kajang-Seremban and the North-South Expressway. “Five years ago, we were a very small company. When we started developing the Pajam area, we could see a rise in population,” he recalls. According to Tey, the value of properties have gone up quite a lot since. “We launched Perdana College Heights’ 2-storey units at RM148,000 in 2006 and Citra Hills in 2012 at RM380,000. But now, the subsale prices are RM500,000,” he says. “Our house owners are very happy.” Seri Pajam has another 300 acres of undeveloped landbank and is still expanding it. Tey believes Nada Alam will become its flagship project there. Moving on to north Selangor According to Tey, Seri Pajam is planning projects in northern Selangor next. “Our company has been developing in southern Selangor, in Nilai and Bahau, since 1978. This provided us with the opportunity to focus on building quality products because land prices are still manageable. We can still build comfortable homes for our buyers. “However, we are planning to move to, maybe, Cheras, Kajang and Petaling Jaya. If we find suitable land in these places, we’ll buy it.” But even if the developer purchased land in the Klang Valley, it will not be for high-end products like those offered by other developers in the Klang Valley these days, Tey adds. “Our prices and products will depend on market demand. We started out as a construction company, so we have our own contractor and supplier. We have hardware, manufacturing, construction and development. So, we can save some cost, which will benefit our future buyers.” Moving forward, Tey is optimistic that the developer’s products will sell well. “As we have enjoyed full take-up, we can proceed with the planning of future components and we are confident at this point.” Seri Pajam’s Nada 3 is now open for registration and offers terraced and semi-detached homes.  It will officially be launched in March 2014. This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on January 20, 2014. 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