JOHOR BAHARU, July 3 (Bernama) -- The newly appointed Chairman of UDA Holdings, Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed will stress on the company focusing on three core business areas namely real estate, development of town and management of shopping complexes in three major cities in the country.

This is to make a success of the Bumiputera mission as set out by the government in the 10th Malaysia Plan and the New Economic Model, he said.

"The cities would be Johor Baharu (Johor); Kuala Lumpur and Georgetown (Penang)," he told reporters here Saturday.

Nur Jazlan said he had received the official briefing from the Managing Director of UDA, Datuk Jaafar Abu Hassan, and had directed that all management of UDA focus on the businesses in the three cities.

He said he wanted the existence of UDA to enable the Bumiputera community to compete with other communities and at the same time did not want to hear incidents of them having to move out of the cities because they could not afford to buy residences or business premises in the cities.

USA also has strength in the management of shopping complexes being the sole Bumiputera company managing properties in the cities such as BB Plaza, Pertama Complex and Daya Bumi in Kuala Lumpur and Plaza Angsana in Johor Baharu.

This is an edge UDA has and it should be fully exploited to ensure that the Bumiputera community can do businesses in the main cities, he said.

UDA has already been delisted from Bursa Malaysia and currently under the patronage of the Minister of Finance Incorporated and the government wants it to be a corporation as was its mission during its establishment 40 years ago.

"The Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is very concerned and wants to see UDA return to the root of its establishment which is to strengthen the ownership of properties by Bumiputera be it business or residential in the city area," he said.

In mid June, Nur Jazlan who is also Member of Parliament for Pulai was announced as the new Chairman of UDA, replacing Datuk Hilmi Abd Rashid, for a two-year term.

-- BERNAMA