[Nulgath]

Former president BJ Habibie, via his firm Pollux Habibie International, is set to construct Meisterstadt, a superblock worth a total of US$1 billion, on a nine-hectare plot of land in Batam.

The construction of the apartment project, which will comprise 11 residential towers and is to be equipped with a hospital, will start in the middle of this year, targeting residents of Indonesia’s neighboring countries, particularly Singapore.

Pollux Habibie International commissioner Ilham Akbar Habibie told thejakartapost.com in Batam on Saturday that the Meisterstadt superblock would be built in four stages.

“Initially, the plan to construct a hospital in the superblock was in the last will and testament of my mom [the late Ainun Habibie] and it will be implemented in the third stage of this superblock’s construction,” said Ilham at the project's launch on Saturday.

Pollux Properties Indonesia president commissioner Muladi, who was known as Habibie’s right-hand man during the latter’s presidential term, Batam Free Trade Zone Authority (BPK FTZ) head Mustofa Widjaja, Batam maypr Ahmad Dahlan and Meisterstadt Batam operational general manager Yosef Eduardus attended the ceremony.

Ilham said the property business in Batam was promising because the area was quite close to Singapore. The developer hoped Singaporeans would be the main buyers of the apartments.

“Singapore now has 5 million residents and it has continued to grow. We hope that we can benefit the country’s population, particularly in the property sector,” said Ilham.

He further explained: “It happened in Hong Kong in the 1950s, during which the region’s population had flown to several provinces of the Chinese mainland near Hong Kong. We’ve now seen a similar situation in Guangdong, in which industries and businesses from Hong Kong have flown to the city. Such an effect will happen between Singapore and Batam.”

Ilham said the company hoped that a third of the apartments in the superblock complex would be bought by foreigners while the remainder would be marketed to local buyers.

As many as 1,575 apartments in two of the towers, which will be built in the first stage of the construction project, have been booked by potential buyers with VVIP pass cards who attended the launch. In total, 1,874 VVIP pass cards were issued in the event.

Three sizes of apartments, namely 24.82 square meters, 42.51 m2 and 51.59 m2, will be built in the first stage of the construction project, which will take place from 2016 to 2019. They will be offered at various prices, starting at Rp 400 million (US$29,238.72) per unit.

Adopting the vertical integrated city concept, the Meisterstadt superblock will have 11 towers, comprising eight apartment towers, one office tower, one hotel tower and one hospital tower.

“We hope there will be a more attractive government regulations on property ownership for foreigners who want to buy not only landed houses but also apartments,” said Ilham.

Ilham’s father, BJ Habibie, is a figure quite involved in the history of Batam. He initiated the development of Batam and from 1978 to 1998 he led the Batam Industrial Development Authority (BIDA), which is known as the BPK FTZ Batam. In 1998, he was replaced by his son, Fanny Habibie, but only for four months.

Meanwhile, Ahmad said it was time for Batam to change its residential concept to the vertical building concept from the landed house concept, because of its limited land.

“The land in Batam is very limited. For our urban planning, we have recommended residences with the tower or vertical building concept. From the business aspect, it is very prospective because many noted developers have built their projects here. It means they see a huge market potential here,” said the Batam mayor.

Mustofa said the need for premium residential compounds in Batam must be accommodated.

“The growth of the number of Batam residents is the fastest in the world because of migration. To anticipate such a rapid growth, the Batam administration will also complement this city with toll roads and overpasses, which have been included in the national strategic project,” he said.

“The toll roads and overpasses are aimed at anticipating traffic congestion in the next 10 years.”