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roperty developer Pollux Habibie International (PHI), a joint venture between former president BJ Habibie’s family and the local arm of Singapore-listed Pollux Properties, has started the construction of a US$1 billion apartment superblock in Batam called Meisterstadt.

The initial phase of Meisterstadt, which is German for “master of city”, will be completed within the next three years. It will comprise two residential towers, with the 1,300 apartments launched in early January already sold out. Prices range from Rp 400 million ($30,105) to Rp 800 million per unit.

“Most of the buyers were Batam citizens, while foreigners only accounted for 5 percent [of the total sales],” Pollux Habibie International commissioner Ilham Akbar Habibie, the former president’s son, said in Batam on Saturday.

Eighty percent of the buyers came from Batam, 10 percent from Jakarta, 5 percent from other big cities in the country, and the rest from Singapore and Malaysia.

Adopting a vertical integrated city concept, the overall Meisterstadt superblock will have a total of 11 towers, consisting of eight apartment towers, one office tower, one hotel tower and one hospital tower. The developer aims to fully complete the project in 2024.

Located on a 9-hectare plot of land, indeed, the company initially hoped that the superblock would mainly attract buyers from Indonesia’s neighboring countries, particularly Singapore.

“Singapore now has 5 million residents and it has continued to grow. We hope that we can benefit the country’s population, particularly in the property sector,” said Ilham, who got his doctorate in engineering from the Technical University of Munich in Germany.

Considering the success of the first phase, Ilham is optimistic that Meisterstadt will become the new icon of Batam.

“Meisterstadt’s towers will surpass the height of Singapore’s skyscrapers so they will be clearly visible from Singapore. We hope it’s not going to be a problem in the future,” said Ilham, 53, who also has an MBA from the University of Chicago and has taken part in the prestigious INSEAD International Executive Program.

BJ Habibie was quite involved in Batam, initiating development there and leading the Batam Industrial Development Authority (BIDA), which is known now as the Batam Free Trade Zone Management Agency (BPK FTZ), between 1978 to 1998. In 1998, he was replaced by his younger brother, Junus Effendi “Fanny” Habibie, but only for four months.

Meanwhile, Batam was considered an ideal place to lure investors as it had a minimum potential disruption, said Gen. (ret) Timur Pradopo, president commissioner of Pollux Properties Indonesia, the local arm of Singapore-listed
Pollux Properties, which jointly worked on the project with the Habibie family.

He said the collaboration between civilians, the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police (Polri) would ensure the safety of investment activities in Batam, as proven by the recent early detection of Bahrum Naim’s terrorist group that allegedly has links to the Islamic State (IS) movement.