JOHOR BARU • The Forest City property development in Johor state will not be affected by the Chinese government's efforts to stop capital flight into offshore investments, said Johor Menteri Besar Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

He said this was because Forest City, which will span four man-made islands in Gelang Patah when completed, is meant to cater to the global market and not Chinese buyers alone.

Concerns were raised after news emerged on Friday that property developer Country Garden has closed all its showrooms in China promoting the Forest City project amid Beijing's intensified crackdown on capital outflows.

"The Chinese government's policy is not targeted towards Forest City. It affects all Chinese developers which have projects outside the country," said Mr Khalid yesterday.

He said the China-based developer has been marketing the project in other parts of the world, such as Australia, the Middle East and Europe.

Forest City, a mixed development project, is expected to contribute some RM66 billion (S$21 billion) in tax revenue to Malaysia over the next 20 years.

Country Garden said it had closed its sales centres temporarily while it updates its sales strategy.

Thousands of apartments in the US$100 billion (S$141 billion) project in the Iskandar special economic zone have been sold, with Chinese nationals accounting for 70 per cent of buyers.

THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK