WHEN the concept of Vision 20201 was first mooted by our Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad, was to lead the pack towards achieving this goal. It wasn’t that other states like Penang and Johor were not as urbanised or that their industrial, commercial and housing develop- ment lagged far behind. Selangor Bypass, and the was the natural choice, being the Expressway (KESAS). Pulau immediate hinterland of Kuala Indah Industrial Park in West Lumpur, the capital city of Port is part of a .5,860-acre mixed . development project being devel- Of all the districts which make oped by Central Spectrum (M) up the state of Selangor, the dis- Sdn Bhd, a consortium made up of tricts of Petaling, , Selangor State Development and Hulu Langat which constitute Cow, Kumpulan Perangsang the are the most Selangor Bhd, Permodalan Selan- urbanised, not just in the state but gor Bhd and Arab-Malaysian also in the country. The rest of the Development Bhd. districts such as Hulu Selangor, The Hulu Langat DistrictlSepa- Gombak, , Sabak ng District Bernam and Kuala Langat tagged The districts which received along with their predominantly the most limelight in recent years rural character. since the Multimedia Super Corri- What had spurred the pace of dor was announced in 1995, Hulu urbanisation in the Klang Valley? Langat and Sepang, used to be Quite simply, the excellent net- frequently overshadowed by the work of roads and highways. And more vibrant . along them, industrial corridors Although lacking its fair share of sweep out and boundaries fade multinational occupants, they over a period of time such as in were not absent. Sony, Hitachi, the district of Petaling. Carrier and, even National are The Petaling District among the selected few which Established and popular indusl have chosen to locate here. trial corridors in the Petaling Dis- These will be the districts to trict are , Subang watch in the next millennium now Jaya, Shah Alam and the newer that most of the planned express- Bukit Jalil/ area. Trig- ways and the KL International gered by the Federal Highway Airport in Sepang are in use. initially, industries in these areas Should the South Klang Valley mushroomed quickly as more Expressway (SKVE) and the Ded- highways were laid and roads icated Highway be revived by upgraded and widened (see then, there will be much in store chart). for everyone. Undeterred by the hefty premi- The ums in rents or prices of industri- Developers of industrial estates al land, most of these are multina- in the Gombak district depended tional corporations. Names such very much on the North South as National Panasonic, Kodak, Highway up till today as there are Philips, Cycle & Carriage, Cit- minimal alternatives available. roen, Dunlop Slazenger, Johnson But the proposed Assam Jawa- & Johnson, Ericsson, Electrolux, Taman Rimba-Templer Highway and Goodyear, to name but a few, (LATAR) and Guthrie Corridor reflect the preferential status of Expressway (GCE) are likely to this industrial neighbourhood. change the outlook for industries The and landowners here. Another active industrial area, The this district is blessed with two A placid district so far, the pace prominent seaports - North Port of development here will depend and the new West Port, with feed- largely on the timing of comple- er access via the Federal High- tion of the three proposed high- way, the North Klang Straits ways - Latar, GCE and the West INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT--.-- -_.-^ (EXISTING/FUTURE-F)----.^- ._.. - .-... Section 13,19,51A & 51 FederalHffway Subang Hi-Tech,SJ IndustrialArea NKVE, Shah AfamExpressway Shah Alam IndustrialArea NS Central Link lubng NS Highway,Puchong-Sg Besi Highway ---.---.“_--.- B&ii Raja IndustrialPark North Kfang Straits Bypass Pufau lndah fndustriafPark FederalHighway Shah Alam Expressway

Pa&, RawangIntegrated Ind, Park, f3atuCaves fndustrfaf Pa&

BernamJaya, Bukit bruntung, Latar (F),Tg Malim- (F)

Proposed industrialdevelopment

Coast Highway (WCH). on the fringes of the North-South Garang will serve the industrial The proposed industrial pro- Highway. corridor in Telok Panglima jects in Kuala Selangor and Batu Garang, Olak Lempit and would essentially set the The proposed Laut for the time being. pulse of development in this dis- Proton City-Ulu Behrang High- The Sahak Bernam District trict. way is intended to bridge the It is a long road ahead for indus- The development of Proton City with trial development in Sungei Lang Proposed industrial develop- areas around Tanjung Malim and Sungei Besar. Scattered with ment projects in the Hulu Selan- while spurring the industrialisa- small and medium-scale indus- gor district are by and large tion process in this district. tries generally, large industrial among the biggest ones in Selan- The projects hardly exist because of gor. Led by the Proton City pro- With the SKVE currently the lack of infrastructural facili- ject and Bernam Jaya (6,000 deferred and the fate of the WCH ties. acres) and Sungel Gapi (approxi- unknown, the widening of the mately 1,000 acres), which are -Nilai connection and l Lim Lay Ying is the managing director of marketing research and consultancy firm both developed by Selangor State upgrading of the road between Research lnc (Asia), formerly 1X! Raseilrc.h Economic Development Corp, are Banting and Telok Panglima (S.E. Asia).