For booming Malaysia, the sky's the limit
For booming Malaysia, the sky's the limit
By Ong Saw Lay
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): If height is any symbol of success, Malaysia will soon, at least fancifully, be the pinnacle of achievement as home to Asia's tallest tower and, by year-end, to the world's tallest building.
Crowning Kuala Lumpur's rapidly-changing skyline at 421 metres (1,263 feet), Menara Kuala Lumpur last week began its reign as the tallest tower in Asia and the third-tallest in the world.
"We want Menara Kuala Lumpur to be to Malaysia what the Eiffel Tower is to France," said Nasir Ithnin, general manager of Menara Kuala Lumpur Sdn Bhd.
Menara in 1991 was awarded a 15-year government concession to build and manage the telecommunications tower.
The 270 million-ringgit (108 million-dollar) structure is a 90-10 joint venture between the national telephone company, Telekom Malaysia Bhd, and Germany's Wayss and Freytag AG, the turnkey contractor.
Designed by local architecture firm Kumpulan Senireka Sdn Bhd, it features a glass dome within the tower designed to reflect Malaysia's Islamic heritage.
A stone's throw from the Menara, what will be the world's tallest building is already reaching for the sky.
At 451.9 metres, the 2.3-billion-ringgit (920-million-dollar) twin tower owned by state oil company Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) should top record-holder Chicago's Sears Towers by 8.9 metres when it opens by year-end.
But its reign as the world's tallest is expected to end when China's 457-metre Chongqing Tower is completed next year.
The 88-storey twin towers, designed by U.S.-based architect Cesar Pelli, is seen not only as a flashy new address for Petronas, but also as a status symbol for fast-developing Malaysia.
"It's an achievement," said Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad recently.
Government officials last week cut into a special cake baked in the shape of the structure to celebrate Mahathir's 15th year in office.
New monuments and hotels have mushroomed in the capital in the last two years as Malaysia moves toward the prime minister's goal of joining the world's fully industrialized nations by 2020.
Despite a burgeoning deficit in its trade and current account balances, Malaysia is pushing ahead with huge projects, some tagged as extravagant and wasteful by Mahathir's critics.
About 64 kilometers (40 miles) south of the capital, the government is spending 20.09 billion ringgit (8.0 billion dollars) on a federal administrative metropolis for the relocation of state ministries.
Due for completion in 2005, the so-called Putrajaya project is located not far from Kuala Lumpur's new nine-billion-dollar international airport.
Builders are rushing to meet the airport's completion deadline in 1998, when Malaysia hosts the Commonwealth Games.
Big projects are still the way of the future, the 71-year-old Mahathir recently declared.
Economists say the mega projects will further strain Malaysia's current account deficit, tipped to remain at 15 billion ringgit this year, only a slight improvement from last year's 18 billion ringgit shortfall.
Mahathir sees the projects as necessary to ease bottlenecks and continue attracting inflows of the foreign funds that have helped fuel Malaysia's economic growth, which has stayed above eight percent annually since 1987.
Malaysia, now grappling with rising worker shortage and labor costs, needs at least 450 billion ringgit (180 billion dollars) to fund projects and sustain its robust growth for the next five years.