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.