KUALA LUMPUR (Mar 31): Ewein Zenith Sdn Bhd, a joint venture between Ewein Land Sdn Bhd and Consortium Zenith BUCG Sdn Bhd (CZBUCG), has received planning permission from the Penang Island City Council to go ahead and develop a mixed project on a 3.67-acre freehold land in Bandar Tanjong Pinang, Penang.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, Ewein Bhd (fundamental: 1.1; valuation: 2.4) said Ewein Zenith, a 60%-owned subsidiary of Ewein Land Sdn Bhd which in turn is a wholly-owned unit of Ewein, received approval from the council on the planning permission yesterday.

CZBUCG holds the remaining 40% in Ewein Zenith.

The parcel of land, which is vested with the Penang state government, has been alienated to Ewein Zenith for the proposed mixed development on Feb 17 this year.

"The alienation of the land is partial payment for the works to be carried out by CZBUCG for the major road project and the third link tunnel project (in Penang) and it will be treated as CZBUCG's contribution," Ewein had told Bursa in June last year.

It forms part of the 110 acres of land in Tanjong Pinang that the Penang government is using to compensate CZBUCG for the construction, feasibility studies and detailed design work of a RM6.3 billion integrated road transport project. The project involves a 12km paired road and a 6.5km undersea tunnel linking the island and the mainland in an agreement signed on Oct 6, 2013.

“In consideration for the performance of the contract, Consortium Zenith will be given 110 acres of freehold land in Tanjong Pinang (at an approximate rate of RM1,300 per sq ft),” a circular from Ewein to shareholders in June 2014 read.

In February 2014, both Ewein Zenith and CZBUCG had signed a supplementary agreement where the former will pay RM133 million to CZBUCG for the land to be alienated to Ewein Zenith for the development of the mixed project.

Last August, CZBUCG chairman Datuk Zarul Ahmad Zulkifli was reported as saying that the second phase of the feasibility study for the RM6.3 billion Penang undersea tunnel project was on-going and the construction will commence in 2016.

CZBUCG is a special purpose vehicle formed among Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (99.94%), Beijing Urban Construction Group Co Ltd (0.02%), Juteras Sdn Bhd (0.02%), and Sri Tinggit Sdn Bhd (0.02%).

Ewein shares closed unchanged at 49 sen today, bringing a market capitalisation of RM103.35 million.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)