ST : Sculpting a new city, serving a community

Jul 19, 2010

special report

Sculpting a new city, serving a community

Johor's upcoming Medini city aims to be 'people-centric'

By Tan Hui Yee

A CITY skyline that inspires, modern trams to cut downtown traffic, and homes, offices and parks that blend seamlessly with surrounding hills.

A brave new city is rising from scratch in Johor just a 15-minute drive from the Singapore-Malaysia border, piquing the interest of Singapore investors.

It is a giant construction site now, but much of the 955ha Medini - the size of Punggol town - is expected to combine the best urban designs from success stories around the world: London's Canary Wharf office district; seaside developments in some parts of Australia's Gold Coast; exclusive golf-course fringed housing in Miami, Florida, as well as condominiums and recreational areas in the Newton area in Singapore.

This blueprint for a thriving, liveable, and environmentally friendly district for more than 200,000 was the product of 18 months' work by urban planners, traffic consultants and architects from countries such as the United States, Australia, Malaysia and Britain.

Medini, a key development of the Iskandar special economic region, is expected to be worth over US$20 billion (S$28 billion) when fully completed in 15 to 20 years. So far, work on Asia's first Legoland theme park, a new shopping centre and a Parkway Holdings hospital there is already under way.

Medini's masterplan paints a picture of a vibrant Islamic financial centre linked to exclusive homes as well as recreational and communal facilities. The city hopes to attract major banking names to become an Islamic financial hub of the region.

Middle East investors like Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Development Company and Aldar Properties PJSC, Beirut-based Millennium Development International and Kuwait Finance House were reported in April to have invested at least US$1.2 billion to develop Medini.

To create a cool, shady environment, over 13 per cent of the district will be left as parks and public spaces.

The knolls which dot the former oil palm and fruit plantation land will be refashioned into parks interlaced with connecting pathways like the park connecters in Singapore.

Rainwater will be channelled through artificial rivers to retention ponds, which will slow the flow of run-off and help filter it before it enters the Strait of Johor. Sewage will be recycled into non-drinking water for various uses. In the future, sewage may even be recycled into drinking water - Newater style - to reduce the township's impact on the environment.

Beirut-based development manager Millennium Development International, which is overseeing 70 per cent of the project, is planning a 'people-centric' township, says its Malaysia country manager Richard Polkinghorne.

Medini's financial centre will have a tram line serving residents, workers and visitors when enough people have moved in. Its roads and walkways will be barrier-free and pedestrian-friendly. To make sidewalks pleasant and bike commutes safe, most of the roads will be designed for traffic moving at just 20kmh to 30kmh.

Mr Polkinghorne says: 'That's fine, as long as there is no traffic jam. We are trying to make the roads service the community, rather than the other way around.'

Meanwhile, building owners will be subject to strict building controls. They will have to build adequate street level pedestrian linkage and align their property in a way that will share the views of the surrounding scenery with occupants of buildings behind. Building owners who want to deviate from planning rules will have to submit their designs to a panel for consideration.

Of course, much of this transformation still hinges on future investment.

Until recently, investor interest from Singapore has been muted by the country's oft prickly ties with Malaysia. This could change now that both countries have settled a 20-year dispute over railway land and pledged to invest jointly in a wellness township in Iskandar.

tanhy@sph.com.sg



An artist's impression of what the new city Medini will be like (above) though the plot of land in Johor is just a giant construction site for now. Work on Asia's first Legoland theme park there is already under way. -- PHOTOS: MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT HOLDINGS, TERENCE TAN