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T Intiland Development (DILD) has announced that it will invest approximately Rp 7.5 trillion (US$ 690 million) in a reclamation project in North Jakarta, highlighting the developer's expansion in the upscale market.

'We plan to reclaim 63 hectares of land in the Pantai Mutiara area,' Intiland's executive director for capital and investment management, Archied Noto Pradono, said.

He added that the developer had applied for various permits for the reclamation project, which would require an investment of roughly Rp 7.5 trillion disbursed in stages over at least four years.

'We have secured the principal permits for the project and are now in the process of securing the reclamation permits,' he said.

He said the company expected to have all the permits by next year so that it could start working on the project by 2015.

'We hope to begin as soon as the 2014 election is over,' he said.

Archied further noted that the developer planned to utilize the reclaimed land for mixed-use construction, which includes residential and commercial properties.

'The proceeds generated from the pre-sale of these properties would then go to financing full development of the site,' he said.

Company spokesperson Theresia Rustandi said the reclamation project would expand the developer's portfolio in the Pantai Mutiara area.

Around 1984, the developer began reclaiming land on which Pantai Mutiara, an upscale residential area, currently stands. The developer has also completed the first phase of Regatta, a project that involves the construction of 10 apartment towers on 11 hectares of land.

'In this first phase, we have utilized 2 hectares of the allotted land, and still have another 9 hectares left to build on,' she said.

She added that the company was interested in increasing the number of projects it had in North Jakarta given that the area boasted a healthy population.

'A lot of developers have set foot in this area, and this has drawn more people to come and stay here,' she said.

Besides Intiland, fellow listed developer PT Agung Podomoro Land (APLN) oversees The Green Bay, a superblock standing on 12 hectares of land in Pluit. This area is also where Agung Podomoro will reclaim 160 hectares of land as part of the first phase of a mega project involving the construction of three man-made islands.

Theresia added that Intiland also oversaw five projects across Jakarta, Surabaya and cities in Sumatra, and had spent Rp 750 billion of its Rp 1.5 trillion capital expense budget in the first half of the year.

Intiland saw revenues increase 44.1 percent year-on-year to Rp 764.8 billion in the first half of the year. Amid a 22.7 percent increase in cost of sales and direct expenses to Rp 375.1 billion, the developer managed to raise net profit by 75 percent to Rp 140.4 billion.

Theresia added that although the developer was evaluating the macro-economic situation, which is in the doldrums due to the weakening rupiah, the developer had kept to its initial growth target.

'We are sticking to our growth target of 20'30 percent,' she noted.

Intiland earned Rp 1.2 trillion in revenues 2012, or 34.3 percent more than the previous year.

Archied of Intiland added that the developer had not attempted to buy back its shares in the market, although the sector had been in the red as the index weakened.

'We are still weighing the pros and cons of a buyback because the weakening of the property sector is not within our control, but is affected by both global trends and overall negative sentiment over the bourse,' he added.