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ublicly listed property developer Agung Podomoro Land plans to build several hotels and superblocks in major cities outside of Java, such as Medan and Balikpapan, as part of the company'€™s planned nationwide expansion.

The company'€™s vice president director, Veri Y. Setiady, said that the company was currently working on two superblocks, Podomoro City Deli in Medan and Borneo Bay Residences in Balikpapan, and the Indigo hotel in Seminyak in Bali.

'€œThe superblock project in Medan is one of our biggest projects,'€ Veri told reporters Thursday, adding that the Borneo Bay Residences was an extension of the Plaza Balikpapan complex.

The Podomoro City Deli Medan, managed by one of the company'€™s subsidiaries, Sinar Menara Deli, consists of 3,000 apartment units, a hotel, an office tower and a shopping mall, while the Borneo Bay Residences, also managed by a subsidiary, Pandega Citra Niaga, consists of 1,100 apartment units, a hotel and a shopping mall.

The hotel project in Bali, offering around 280 rooms, is managed by another of its subsidiaries, Bali Perkasa Sukses.

The property giant is also planning on constructing a new hotel next year in Ubud, Bali. The company will also expand its project operations on 15 hectares of land in Makassar.

Veri said that with the expansion, the company expected stable growth for the company'€™s future revenues. This year, Agung Podomoro expects its marketing sales to rise by 40 percent to Rp 3.5 trillion (US$265 million) from Rp 2.5 trillion last year.

The company is optimistic that the targeted market sales will be achieved seeing as the economy has been recovering this year.

'€œSo far, there is no big issue that will slow down the country'€™s economic growth this year,'€ the company investor relations head, Wibisono, said. Last year the company'€™s marketing sales declined by 58 percent from Rp 6 trillion in 2014 because of the economic slowdown and the issue of the planned property tax increase, added Wibisono.

Last year, the government imposed more taxes on the property sector including a 20 percent increase in the luxury tax on landed houses.

Veri added that last year the company faced difficulties in finding construction workers due to the large number of construction projects in Jakarta.

'€œThe problem of finding construction workers also slowed down the development of our company'€™s construction projects,'€ he said. (vny)