Where to Look

Kuala Lumpur is in a class apart as the country’s business capital and definitely the focus of most activity in residential, retail and office real estate. The city’s central business district is currently undergoing rapid change. However, KL’s long term prospects are not guaranteed despite all the activity. Singapore (pop. 4.5m) is only as far away as London is from Paris and this proximity means that Kuala Lumpur only has Malaysia (pop. 27m) as its hinterland. Given that KL and the KL ‘metropolitan region’ have populations of 1.8m and 6.9m respectively, it seems unlikely that the city can surprise by growing into a different league, either in terms of wealth or size. However, genuine friendliness and cooperation between the two countries could herald impressive new opportunities. WTW’s (CH Williams, Tahar & Wong) series of annual property reviews provides a good breakdown of developments around the country.

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K H Sim is a property developer. Specifically, he is the Managing Director of The Malaysian arm of Sydney based, Bluestone Group and based in Kuala Lumpur.

Bluestone Malaysia are responsible for a number of recent developments – all extremely successful. One in particular, the Taragon Puteri YKS in Yalan Lap Kwan Sen, was 100% sold out before completion. Another in downtown Kuala Lumpur was released this month.

But K H Sim is developing a reputation in another area of property development. Rescuing distressed building projects that have been abandoned in Kuala Lumpur.

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Datuk Ab Hakim Borhan mayor of KL has a vision: Public information like building floor plans, application for business licenses, the filing of reports of accidents, bus schedules, or data on the city’s history – all at the push of a button or swipe of a barcode.

By using high-tech gadgets, all public housing officers would be able to scan a barcode installed at the building’s entrance and information such as the number of tenants, age and the duration of their tenancy will all be instantly available.

Tourists would no longer need tourist guides, as all buildings in Kuala Lumpur will have barcodes installed at the entrance whereby by just displaying a cell phones, information on the history of the building would be provided.

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