Flocking to Teluk Intan

Friday December 23, 2011

By SYLVIA LOOI sylvia@thestar.com.my  Photos by SAIFUL BAHRI

TELUK Intan, the third largest town in Perak, is booming. Known for its large tracts of oil palm plantations, the coastal town is making a name for itself in another lucrative venture — the bird’s nest industry.

Teluk Intan Municipal councillor Kong Sun Chin said investors were flocking to the town to invest in shoplots to rear swiftlets.

Popular spot: The leaning clock tower in Teluk Intan is one of the many tourist attractions here.

“Whereas in the past, property developers needed to wait patiently for potential buyers to approach them, it has now become the opposite. “Some even resort to camping outside the night before the launch of commercial projects in order to secure units,” he told MetroPerak.

Kong said three-storey shoplots were especially popular while two-storey units were also much sought after.

“The higher the shoplots, the pricier they are,” he added.

Good money: A filepic of a swiftlet farm at a shophouse in Teluk Intan.

Giving an example, Kong said a two-storey unit could fetch as much as RM300,000.

“Those which are three storeys high is more than double of that at RM700,000 while a four-storey shoplot could cost as much as RM1mil,” he said. Kong said locals were also reaping handsome returns from the sale of their commercial property. “An owner only needs to voice out his intention to sell and there will be buyers lining up to buy it off him,” Kong said.

Meanwhile, shoplots with existing swiftlets could fetch even higher prices, according to one investor.

Ng, as he wished to be identified, said there was an extremely high population of swiftlets in Teluk Intan.

“There are more swiftlets here in Teluk Intan than there are human beings,” he said. Ng, who started dabbling in swiftlet farms four years ago, said the price of a shoplot with 200 to 300 birds’ nests could shoot up to RM1.2mil.

Council president Ibrahim Ahmad said Teluk Intan was the second highest producer of bird’s nest in the state after the Manjung district. “We have issued over 500 licences to operators this year alone.

“The council’s One-Stop-Centre has also received a higher number of project proposals for buildings higher than one storey,” Ibrahim said.

Since the 1980s, wild swiftlets have turned to man-made structures to house their young due to the loss of their natural habitat to development. Indonesia’s forest fires and the subsequent haze during the 1990s, drove millions of swiftlets to Malaysia, especially to coastal towns like Sitiawan and Teluk Intan