Hektar REIT chairman Jaafar passes away

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 25): Hektar Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) announced yesterday to Bursa Malaysia that its non-executive chairman Datuk Jaafar Abdul Hamid (pictured) has passed away.

Jaafar, 62, was the founder and principal shareholder of the Hektar Group of companies and provided leadership for the overall strategic direction of the group.

Previously, he was the managing director of United Engineers Malaysia Bhd (UEM) and during his tenure he was responsible for undertaking numerous privatisation projects including the North-South Expressway (PLUS), the Malaysia-Singapore Second Crossing (Linkedua), Integrated Schedule Waste Management (Kualiti Alam) and the National Sports Complex.

After his UEM stint, he assumed the chairmanship of an international engineering and construction group, Costain Group PLC until year 2000.

Jaafar is also father of Malaysian professional racer Jazeman Jaafar.

In May last year, Jaafar relinquished his position as chief executive officer to be redesignated to his current position as non-executive chairman. — theedgemarkets.com