One of the world’s leading dredging specialists, the Jan De Nul Group of Belgium, has won a Malaysian land reclamation contract for a 2.7 billion Ringgit (about 790 million USD) waterfront development in this capital of the southern Malaysian state of Johor.

The contract was awarded by Central Malaysian Properties Sendirian Berhad (CMP), developer of the RM2.7 billion Lido Boulevard project, which is to be developed along a 2.4-km stretch of the strategically-located Tebrau Straits facing northern shore of the island of Singapore, about one km away.

Land reclamation is the first phase of development of the project, stretching from the abandoned Lot 1 shopping mall in this state capital to the Harbour Master's office.

Reclamation work will commence next month and is expected to be completed by end-2011, said CMP in a statement here Wednesday.

The Jan De Nul Group's prestigious international dredging and reclamation projects include Palm Island Dubai, construction of Europe's largest waste water treatment plant in Brussels North, Brussels' Zaventem Airport Terminal and phase four of Singapore's Jurong Island reclamation.