A LUXURY estate in southern Malaysia built by the Chinese has been left to rot – and has become the most controversial development in the country’s history.
Dubbed the “ghost city“, the $100billion estate is built on reclaimed land far off from the nearest major city in Johor Bahru.
AFPForest City has become the most conteroversial piece of real estate in Malaysia[/caption]
AFPOnly a few hundred people live in the high-rise development that house tens of thousands of apartments[/caption]
AFPAlmost all the retail shops are closed due to lack of business[/caption]
Built by Country Garden – China’s largest property developer – under Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, Forest City was pitched as “a dream paradise for all mankind”.
Back in 2016 when it was being constructed, the Chinese real-estate market was in full bloom.
Developers were borrowing unfathomable amounts of money to invest in property buildings aimed at middle-class buyers who live abroad.
Country Garden had the same plans in Malaysia, if not, even bigger.
The goal was to build an eco-friendly metropolis featuring a golf course, waterpark, offices, bars, and restaurants.
Spread across thousands of acres of land – almost four times the size of Monaco – Forest City was going to be the home for one million people, according to the Chinese company.
But eight years down the line, it stands as an abandoned ghost town on the banks of a crocodile-infested river.
Just 15 per cent of the total project has been finished and only a few hundred people live in the high-rise developments.
While the Chinese developers said it was built for middle-class people, the selling prices of residential units were far out of reach for ordinary Malaysians.
An average condo today in the development retails for around $1.14million.
The average sale price of a property in Johor Bahru – the biggest city near the development – is around $141,000.
As a result, a major part of the ambitious project is vacant – with only a bunch of people scattered around the man-made city.
Signs of large developments are everywhere – there is a sales gallery, an international school, resorts, and huge high-rise luxurious buildings everywhere.
But what cannot be seen in this overly ambitious project are signs of life.
All the retail shops and shopping complexes are all either closed or have been abandoned due to a lack of business.
Each of the high-rise apartments houses hundreds of flats, but no more than a few of them have their lights on.
When the night falls, the entire city becomes pitch dark.
Joanne Kaur, one of the residents of Forest City, told the BBC: “This place is eerie.
“Even during the day, when you step out of your front door, the corridor is dark.
“I feel sorry for people who actually invested and bought a place here.
“We are looking to move out as soon as possible.”
She and her husband live on the 28th storey of one of the tower blocks – and are the only ones on the whole floor.
A stark reality of the development can be seen on social media, where many people criticise the posts that praise the developments of the city.
One such user wrote: “The current Forest City is a ghost town. There are no people at all.
“It is far from the city, has incomplete living facilities, and it is difficult to move without a car.”
Several unique factors have played roles in forcing Forest City to become what it is today.
Apart from the Chinese government’s strict limits on big property developers, Malaysia’s then-prime minister Mahathir Mohamad restricted visas for Chinese buyers, citing his objection to a “city built for foreigners”.
According to the BBC, some analysts also criticise the wisdom of building such a huge project in a country where the economy and politics are unstable.
Travel lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic also hampered many overseas projects, including the Forest City.
AFPThe shoping complexes are left to rot[/caption]
AFPSpread across thousands of acres of land, Forest City was set to become home to a million people[/caption]
AFPEach of the high-rise apartments houses hundreds of flats, but no more than a few of them have their lights on[/caption]
AFPJust 15 per cent of the total project has been finished to date[/caption]