Business

Monday February 6, 2012

CEO on how businesses in JB can benefit from project


ISKANDAR Regional Development Authority (Irda) CEO Ismail Ibrahim speaks with StarBiz on the Johor Baru transformation project and what Johoreans can look forward to when the project is completed in five to seven years.

Q: Why there is a need to transform the city centre and how significant is the project to Iskandar Malaysia?

A: If you look around, most major cities all over the world have undergone transformation to offer better living areas for the locals as well as to attract tourists.

You don’t have to go far – see how Singapore as a city-state has successfully preserved and conserved the old parts of the republic and turned them into viable places to live and do business.

The conservation of heritage buildings was done by the private sector under the watchful eyes of the Urban Renewal Authority and this has been able to rejuvenate the old parts of Singapore.

Look at Boat Quay and Clarke Quay, where pre-war shop houses fronting the Singapore River have been turned into specialty retail stores, food and beverage outlets and offices which blend well with skyscrapers behind them.

How can you convince the people currently running businesses within the area and the landowners that the project will be successful?

There is always perception versus reality; and we have to make sure that the impact and outcome of the project will be mutually benefitting.

It is not only the business community that will benefit from the project but also the Federal and Johor Governments as well as Johoreans, in particular, and Malaysians at large.

For instance, turning Jalan Wong Ah Fook in downtown Johor Baru into a partial-non-vehical zone – doing away with vehicular traffic –will give the businesses high returns and this must be empirically proven rather than just telling them.

We have to make a comparison with the successful projects around the world – many cities in the United Kingdom and Germany have turned the inner parts of the cities into pedestrian walkways.

What do you mean by turning Johor Baru city centre into a vibrant and thriving place?

Vibrant means there should be activities that will generate inflows of people into the city not only during the day but also at night.

We need to keep the population within the city area to a certain level as they will compliment the types of activities taking place in the area, whether business or personal.

This can be done by combining old and new elements – for instance, some of the heritage buildings or those with attractive cultural elements could be turned into offices, F&B outlets, boutique hotels and even residential units.

At the same time, there could be high-density living just metres away combining condominium towers, office blocks and retail centres.

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