PMW breaks ground on RM50.25m pile plant in Tanjung Manis

PMW International Bhd, the ACE Market-listed maker of concrete poles and piles, has broken ground on a RM50.25 million spun pile and pole factory in Tanjung Manis, Sarawak. Its subsidiary PMW Winabumi (Sarawak) Sdn Bhd is building the plant on a 29-acre site on the Rajang River. The state's timber agency, the Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC), is supplying the land and will hold 20% of the subsidiary. Operations are due to start in the fourth quarter of 2027, with full production by early 2028.

The plant

• Capacity: 10,683 tonnes of spun piles and poles a month, about 128,200 tonnes a year
• Products: pre-stressed concrete piles and poles for power, telecommunications, highways, bridges and ports, including the Pan Borneo Highway and the Sabah-Sarawak Link Road
• Jobs: about 160, with priority for nearby communities. More than half of the materials are to be bought locally
• Cost: RM50.25 million, of which RM46.71 million comes from PMW's November 2025 listing, which raised RM60.66 million. The rest is from internal funds or bank loans

The land

• Lot: Lot 1571, Block 12, Buan Land District, on Jalan Semareng, part of a 655-hectare state land parcel (Lot 659) that STIDC was cleared to develop for industry in 2009
• Area: 11.72 hectares (28.96 acres), vacant, inside the Tanjung Manis Economic Growth Area (T-MEGA)
• Tenure: a 60-year lease, counted from when the title is issued
• Price: RM12.5 million, made up of RM4 million in cash and RM8.5 million in shares, which give STIDC its 20%. Valuer Cheston International (KL) put the land at RM10 million. PMW agreed to pay 25% more, citing the river frontage, an existing jetty and STIDC's control of land in the zone
• Exit: five years after the plant starts operating, either side can trigger a sale of STIDC's stake to PMW, at the higher of five times the subsidiary's yearly profit or the land's value

Not settled yet

The ground has been broken before the land has changed hands. When PMW signed with STIDC on 8 April 2026, the plot had no individual title. The deal takes effect only once the title is issued and registered to PMW's subsidiary, and once a Sarawak minister approves STIDC taking the shares. The six-month deadline passed without this. On 8 October the two sides extended it to 7 April 2027.

The April filing planned construction from the fourth quarter of 2026 and commissioning in the third quarter of 2027. The start of operations is now one quarter later.

The numbers

• Land price: RM12.5 million ÷ 1.26 million sq ft ≈ RM9.91 psf, or RM7.93 psf at the valuation
• Against Penang: PTT Synergy paid RM148 psf for freehold land in Seberang Perai Selatan in September 2026, about 15 times as much (our report)
• Capacity: PMW's factories make about 238,000 tonnes a year, so Tanjung Manis adds about 54%. A separate RM43.76 million plant at Bemban, Perak, adds 40,000 tonnes a month and is due in the third quarter of 2027

Why Tanjung Manis

PMW makes its products in Ipoh, Perak, and Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Chief executive Lee Hon Hwa told The Borneo Post in November 2025 that Tanjung Manis has river access and a deepwater port, so heavy products can be shipped straight to Sabah. It is also closer to PMW's Sarawak customers. He expected output to rise over three to five years, as demand allows.

Closer to home, PMW says the Bemban plant, on 12 acres of its own land in Kawasan Perindustrian Bemban, will serve construction in the northern and central regions of Peninsular Malaysia.