KUCHING: Aiman Mall, a brand new suburb mall in the making at Kota Samarahan, yesterday signed on with H&L and Grand Supermart (GSM) as its anchor tenants.
The signing was witnessed by Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, Assistant Minister of Youth Development.
In his welcoming speech, Lee Chin Teck, managing director of Aiman Properties Management Sdn Bhd (Aiman) observed that Kota Samarahan is a fast growing area. He noted that after the Sadong Bridge is completed, this place will be more powerful and more dynamic.
Aiman mall, which is spread over 100,000 square feet, costs RM30 million to build.
Lee underlined that they chose H&L and GSM as their anchor tenants because both are local and large businesses. On GSM, he noted that the group has five outlets in Sarawak and two outlets in West Malaysia, with Aiman Mall being its eighth outlet. He added that GSM’s framework is hooked up to SESCO, Kuching Water Board and others, allowing shoppers the convenience of paying their bills when they visit the mall.
As for H&L, Lee explained that it is the oldest supermarket in Kuching and to date, has 12 outlets.
“Besides these two anchor tenants, we also signed a lot of retail tenants like Ronnie Optical, pharmacy and phone shops,” he added.
At Aiman Mall, Lee affirmed that they are giving the cheapest rental in the whole of Sarawak, charging RM7 per square feet. On top of that, airconditioning, maintenance and housekeeping will be provided.
Aiman Mall is being positioned as a suburb mall, or student mall. Additional features of the mall include an area where the roofing will be connected to the shophouses. Lee added that there will be a musical motion water fountain, the first in Sarawak. There will also be two big LED televisions and four large fans, along with food stalls.
Meanwhile, Lee also mentioned about the shophouses located in the Aiman project.
Situated between two universities Unimas and UITM, Lee highlighted that the former has a population of about 16,000 students while the latter has 10,000 students. He added that these numbers are continuously increasing.
Lee shared that there is a huge demand for the hostel market and there have been purchasers who have plans to partition out shophouses at the Aiman project into rooms for rent ranging from RM200 to RM400.
With Aiman’s shophouses almost completed, Lee believes that the handover will likely be by the end of this year.
Overall, Lee hopes Aiman mall will change the shopping landscape in Kota Samarahan.