Saturday, October 16, 2010

New Sky-scraper Warisan Merdeka from Budget 2011


The Budget 2011 has given us a 100-storey sky-scraper called Warisan Merdeka. This blog is not going to dwell into whether we need more office space in a very saturated market and is this the time to spend RM5b? Especially when we have witnessed every project that our GLC's are involved in are suffering from 50% to 150% cost over-runs... That's a job for another forum... However, in a KL city center property market where prices increases against the distance from the current tallest sky-scraper, the Petronas Twin Towers, this new project and it's sorrounding real-estate will be closely watched.
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The tower will be completed in 2015 on the current land where 2 of KL's historical landmarks sit - Stadium Merdeka and Stadium Negara. If one actually paid attention in class, Stadium Merdeka was where the 1st Malayan Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj proclaimed the independence of Malaysia on 31st of August 1957.
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The site is actually a hill dominated by no other commercial or residential property. The Hang Tuah LRT and monorail stations serve the area which has 4 schools including the reknowned Victoria Institution. The notorious San Peng low cost flats and Choo Cheng Khay apartments are just across the road. The closest condominiums are Casa Mutiara, Swiss Gardens Apartments and Sri Emas, although they are separated by the LRT tracks. KL's China Town, the famous Petaling Street is also adjacent. Although the government has announced that the 2 historical stadiums will be preserved within the project, the other existing buildings, including the 3 schools that sit on the same hill, the Scout's BP House and the Chin Woo sports complex may suffer demolition in favour of high value commercial development. The same way that the historical Bukit Bintang Girls School had to give way to the Pavilion, I think it is unthinkable for VI and Methodist Boys to be located right beside the next tallest tower in Malaysia.
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Also to be watched, is the hill behind Dewan Bahasa Pustaka.

11 comments:

eurobill said...

BTW sinleong, I like your blog a lot.

About this mini mega project:
If it is not commercially viable, dont build it. Simple.
I thought the "economy of scale" is around 40 floors in todays market.

It is exactly this kind of nonsense projects that makes people doubt the government.

Submarines and bakun dams.

Spend the tax money on something viable, like education, transportation, or reduction of crime.

Anonymous said...

Traffic jam traffic jam they still don't care about good public transport system but building 100-sty to worsen the jam. Just to make a name for the 1Malaysia concept. Few billions down the drain for hollow slogan.

esoa said...

Well said Anon

esoa said...

well said Eurobill

everyone sees what everyone sees except for our politicians.

plus some of their justifications for their actions are so lame that it makes us blush.

Anonymous said...

The land is belong to PNB and I am one of the investor in one of their unit trust fund...of course I will support their move for this mega project to the fullest...why you people make so much noise...it is not your land

Anonymous said...

The same applies to MAH SING, SD, YTL etc; why don't you people make noise when these developers built so many supercondos around KLCC; PNB must have the same right on what to do for their very own land

Anonymous said...

"It is exactly this kind of nonsense projects that makes people doubt the government.

Submarines and bakun dams."

Hi Friends,
Singapore as a tiny country got more submarines than Malaysia;
In fact it is justify for Malaysia to have their own submarines and build up their capability to counter the agrressor; the things that we hate is the way the money being spent to pay for a substantial commision to proxies and cronies in the procurement process.

Anonymous said...

Burj Khalifa in Dubai cost USD1.6B for 180 storey.

Why 100 storey PNB Tower need to cost RM5B?

To achieve another Bolehland record of the highest cost cum highest defects is it?!

Anonymous said...

RM1b to build the tower. RM4b for the cronies

azadsan said...

Hi Sinleong, what do you think of sri emas condo? it seems people are selling it below market price

sinleong said...

i never like this location...meaning casa mutiara, swiss garden residences includes... the streets too quiet, nothing to eat nearby and too many crime/robberies in this part.