Putrajaya is eyeing top companies on the Fortune 500 list to spearhead the development of the Bandar Malaysia project, says Bandar Malaysia Sdn Bhd chairperson Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah.

"Of course we will put certain conditions this time round - like (only accepting) companies with great experience, maybe companies in the Fortune 500.

"There will be certain criteria. If they fit the criteria, then only can they participate," he told a press conference in Subang.

However, the planned deadline to announce the master developer of the project may be delayed after Mohd Irwan, who is also treasurer-general, revealed that the Finance Ministry had yet to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP).

On May 17, Mohd Irwan was quoted by Bernama as saying that the RFP would commence "immediately".

He added that the deadline for submitting proposals would close on June 30 and the announcement of the new master developer would be made by July 14.

However, Mohd Irwan today said the RFP would only be issued this week.

"We are going to release the Request for Proposal by the end of this week... there are already interested parties who have already registered their interest," he said.

Last month, Putrajaya abruptly terminated its plan to sell a 60 percent stake in Bandar Malaysia to IWH CREC Sdn Bhd, a consortium comprising Iskandar Waterfront Holdings and China Railway Engineering Corporation.

The government claimed the consortium had failed to fulfil the necessary payments, a claim IWH-CREC denies.

Since then, Najib had lobbied China's Wanda Group, the country's largest private developer, to take up the Bandar Malaysia project.

However, no deal was signed amid China's tight capital controls.

Beijing had reportedly insisted that CREC, a state-owned company, should be retained in the Bandar Malaysia project.

Meanwhile, Irwan shrugged off the issues raised by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) which claimed in a civil lawsuit filed last week that 1MDB subsidiary Brazen Sky's fund units were worthless.

He kept mum when asked how much the fund units in Brazen Sky were currently worth.

In their filing, the DOJ also detailed how 1MDB allegedly conspired to cover up purportedly missing money in Brazen Sky by diverting and recycling a Deutsche Bank loan.

Irwan also declined to respond to the allegation made by pro-BN blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin that Irwan was responsible for the termination of the Bandar Malaysia land deal with IWH-CREC last month.

In his blog, Raja Petra alleged the senior officer had lied to the prime minister by saying that IWH-CREC violated the terms of the agreement, which led to the termination of the agreement.

Local developer Malton Berhad has denied rumours that it was participating in the project together with Wanda Group.