This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on July 22, 2024 - July 28, 2024

Finally, the government’s impetus to revive the Forest City development in Johor has been made known. A series of laws were passed in parliament last week, paving the way for duty-free status to be accorded to Pulau 1 in Forest City.

The granting of duty-free status to one of the man-made islands in Forest City puts an end to speculation as to what the federal government would do to help the massive development in Johor that has turned into a ghost city.

Developed by Country Garden of China, Forest City is a RM100 billion development on four man-made islands. It was supposed to be home to one million people. But today, Forest City has gained international notoriety as an abandoned project.

It has been reported that only 15% of the development has been completed after eight years and less than 1% of the units built are occupied. Country Garden is still grappling with financial difficulties and there is little hope of the development being completed.

Granting Pulau 1 duty-free status sets a precedence. Unlike other duty-free islands in Malaysia where the land and properties belong to locals, Forest City is an island created through reclamation works.

Country Garden built the island and the majority of the property owners are from China. One government back-bencher even raised the question of the island and the units having freehold status.

But the federal government’s options are limited. An intervention to help resuscitate Forest City was only a matter of time. If left alone, the development would turn into an eyesore and eventually be a bigger problem that the federal and state governments will have to handle anyway.

Now that Pulau 1 has been accorded duty-free status, there has to be criteria on how long the privilege would be accorded with clear benchmarks set for performance tracking. It cannot be left open-ended.

More importantly, the Johor state government should now come up with a plan on how Pulau 1 can benefit the locals with its duty-free status, instead of just foreigners.

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