KUALA LUMPUR: Country Garden Pacific View Sdn Bhd (CGP), the master developer of the controversial Forest City project in Johor, has received the approval for its detailed environmental impact assessment (DEIA) from the Department of Environment (DoE).

CGP is a 60-40 joint venture between China’s Country Garden Holdings Ltd and Esplanade Danga 88 Sdn Bhd. Esplanade Danga is said to have the Sultan of Johor and the Johor state government as shareholders.

In a statement yesterday, it said the DoE had accepted its proposed measures to mitigate environmental impacts through “integrated and workable solutions”.

CGP executive director Datuk Md Othman Yusof said the property developer’s next step is to ensure proper “compliance monitoring” when carrying out the project.

“Our next step is to ensure that all compliance monitoring in terms of air, noise, water quality and sediment is robustly implemented and carried out,” he said, adding that one of CGP’s immediate priorities is to minimise the impact on local communities and to ensure that the surrounding ecology is well preserved.

Forest City involves the development of 355ha of existing land along the Strait of Johor, close to the Second Link to Singapore, and the Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP). It also entails the reclamation of another 1,620ha of land.

The Edge weekly on Sept 15 last year highlighted concerns that the proposed project would impede the growth of the PTP. It also noted that such a massive development would have a major negative impact on the overall development of Iskandar Malaysia as it was not part of the master plan.

According to documents presented by CGP to the authorities sighted by the weekly, the gross development value (GDV) of Forest City will come up to RM600 billion, which could generate a profit of nearly RM290 billion for CGP over the next 30 years.

In contrast, The Edge said the documents indicated that CGP had only paid the state government a land premium of RM225 million, which translated into RM5.90 per sq ft. The price, according to industry sources, was said to be very cheap for waterfront land.

Last week, The Malaysian Insider reported that CGP had denied the size of the Forest City project had been limited to less than 1,000 acres (404.68ha), refuting the news portal’s earlier report on the matter.

The news portal earlier, quoting a source, said the DoE had verbally informed CGP of the new limits after complaints from locals and the Singapore government over the reclamation works in the narrow waterway between Malaysia and the republic.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on January 15, 2015.