Bandar Malaysia master plan under review before submission to DBKL

 

Finance minister Anwar Ibrahim said the Bandar Malaysia development project must be responsibly developed, balancing the environmental ecosystem while providing affordable homes for the people.  (File pic)

PETALING JAYA: 

The master plan for the Bandar Malaysia development is being reviewed by the government after it was approved in principle last year.

Finance minister Anwar Ibrahim said the government approved the master plan for the RM140 billion development project in principle on Dec 8, 2023.

“The plan is currently being reviewed for submission to Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL).

“This re-evaluation is necessary after considering feedback and views from various stakeholders to ensure the Bandar Malaysia development reaches its goals,” Anwar, who is also the prime minister, said in a written parliamentary reply.

Citing the vast size of the multibillion ringgit project involving government land, Anwar said the re-evaluation was also crucial to ensure that the development would spur the Kuala Lumpur economy.

He said the project must be responsibly developed, balancing the environmental ecosystem while providing affordable homes for the people.

“The first phase of Bandar Malaysia’s commercialisation is being planned for development, subject to the situation in the market and the readiness of investors,” he said.

He was replying to Fong Kui Lun (PH-Bukit Bintang), who asked the finance minister to give the latest updates on the Bandar Malaysia project, and whether it was going according to schedule.

First announced in 2011, Bandar Malaysia, located at the Sungai Besi air base in Kuala Lumpur, was envisioned as a mixed-use transit-oriented development and was expected to integrate various transportation networks, including the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail line.

The 196ha project had faced multiple delays before being postponed indefinitely in 2021 when agreements with the consortium IWH-CREC fell through.

Under the 2025 budget, Anwar had announced that 20.23ha within the Bandar Malaysia area would be gazetted as Malay reserve land.

Last month, The Star quoted a DBKL official as saying Bandar Malaysia Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Minister of Finance Incorporated, wanted to temporarily rent out part of the project’s land to a theme park operator to keep the site from remaining vacant. - FMT