Kuala Lumpur grows into a boom city

Kuala Lumpur grows into a boom city

By Amy Haight

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): A hundred years ago, it was little more than a depot for tin miners and the fledgling capital of British Malaya.

Today, Kuala Lumpur is one of Asia's fastest growing cities, sporting a skyline that changes by the day before the eyes of its two million residents.

The two tallest buildings in the world are under construction in what is being touted as one of the world's biggest real estate projects, the Kuala Lumpur City Center.

Built on land once preserved for a colonial-era horse racing track, the 88-story Petronas Towers are part of a development of 22 high-rise buildings set on 98 acres (40 hectares) of land in the middle of the city.

When completed, this city within a city will contain offices, a convention center, concert hall, recreation facilities, hotels, department stores, apartments and cinemas.

The Petronas Towers, at 450 meters (1,476 feet), including the cathedral spires at their top, will be seven meters (23 feet) taller than Chicago's Sears Tower when finished in 1996.

But its place in the Guinness Book of World Records will probably last no longer than a year. The Chongqing Tower in China is due to be completed in 1997 and is designed to top the Petronas Towers, also by seven meters.

The US$784 million highrise project, joined by a unique skybridge on the 41st and 42nd floors, will no doubt be the tallest twin towers in the world for some time to come, rising 33 meters (108 feet) higher than New York's World Trade Center.

Elsewhere in the city sprawled across the Klang river valley and ringed by thickly forested limestone mountains other high rise projects are springing up on almost every corner.

Approved foreign investment into Malaysia, totaling more than $40 billion over the last five years alone, has driven growth and transformed Kuala Lumpur into a boomtown. From an economy dependent on commodities, Malaysia is now ranked 19th in world trade, most of it manufactured goods.

But not everyone believes in the fast track to industrialization. Critics say Malaysia's tropical charm is being replaced by traffic jams, pollution and other urban woes.

Gurmit Singh, founder of the Environmental Protection Society of Malaysia, says the once sleepy city, with its Chinese markets and Malay kampong neighborhoods, is suffering from "growing pains".

"The most obvious (environmental) cost is the massive increase in private vehicle traffic," he said in an interview.

"The Klang Valley is one of the most polluted, generated primarily by private motor vehicles."

Proton, the national car, is the product of a domestic car industry that did not exist a decade ago. Thanks to a surging economy and inflation at three percent, most households have at least one car, if not two.

At least 16,000 new cars are added to Malaysia's road each month. Demand is so strong that the price of a year-old Proton in the Klang Valley is higher than a new one, which requires a six- month wait or more.

Hamzah Bakar, chief executive officer of the Kuala Lumpur City Center (KLCC), defended the Towers and the various high-rise projects his office is developing, insisting the city must grow up, not out, if the environment is to be maintained.

"If you want to preserve the green you have to go up," he said in an interview.

"You have a higher density, but grow vertically rather than horizontally. This will facilitate the creation of more parks for the public. Otherwise you will have ground floor buildings and more traffic jams."

"The capital city has an area of 94 square miles (243 sq kms). There is a limit to how far you can grow in a low-rise spread," Bakar told Reuters.

Authorities say they are confronting the problem. An elevated train is under construction in the city center -- snarling traffic even worse, for the moment. An electric train system, linking the city with nearby towns, will open later this year.

The government also plans to transfer most government departments, now scattered across Kuala Lumpur, to Putra Jaya township, about 70 kms (42 miles) south of the city -- near the new $3.7 billion international airport now being built.