Photo source : pictures taken at Iskandar Waterfront Holdings gallery
You mean there is no MRT at my doorstep?!! - Small country mindset in big country series
There was a huge argument in the coach bus over the location of the MRT stop in JB when I was on a company survey trip yesterday. Property agents will never lose an argument
While there were many well substantiated guesses, there were many wild, ridiculous guesses as well. But I got my confirmation of the location from the representative from Iskandar Waterfront Holdings (IWH) – this is a government-linked company incorporated to serve as the masterplanner for 4000 acres of waterfront land (in flagship zone A of Iskandar region). This is also where Capitaland will be sinking in RM800 mil(Danga Bay) for a mixed integrated project comprising of landed and high-rise developments. For more information on IWH, please visit their official website. http://www.iskandarwaterfront.com/
The location of the MRT stop in JB is earmarked to be at the previous lorry clearance area. Well, no surprises and I think it makes perfect sense for a straight line extension from Singapore side to Johor Bahru that runs parallel to existing causeway. Why would they even consider elaborate tunneling works or multiple bends/twists just for a MRT stop from Spore and JB. It would also be a complete engineer’s nightmare to maintain a twisty complicated stretch of MRT track, I don’t think any of our train operators are prepared for that!
Now back to the concept of doorstep MRT. Typically in Singapore, you would expect a property located near to the MRT to fetch a 10-15% premium. Not so in Malaysia. Using WorldBank’s statistics, Malaysia has about 360 vehicles per 1000 people, Singapore on the other hand is 149 vehicles per 1000 people. See http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IS.VEH.NVEH.P3/countries?display=default&cid=DEC_SS_WBGDataEmail_EXT
Cars are a lot more important than public transport in Malaysia and you can see why it is so. The most successful hypermarkets in Johor are the ones that cater for a large car park space (think Aeon Bukit Indah and Aeon Tebrau City). While the building footprint doesn’t have to be very big, it needs to sit on a very large piece of land for carpark purposes. Furthermore, it may not be such a good idea to be located near to MRT stations or train stations because there is a large transient population which makes the particular place especially “complicated”. I learnt this when I asked why there aren’t many multi-storey caparks in Johor
So ditch that idea of having a doorstep MRT. It is good be close to one, somewhere well-connected with multiple access roads, ample carpark lots and big drop-off areas. Having a doorstep MRT station doesn’t necessarily help with the price of properties in Johor.
