Green living with peace of mind
Forest City is proud of its futuristic designs, especially its ‘Green and Smart’ foundation that creates a ‘CityIndustry Integration’
FOREST City, a visionary urban and industrial integrated project, is an international city model that champions environmental protection and sustainability.
The US$100 billion (RM409.85 billion) smart ecological city project is slated for the next 30 years, spanning over 3,000ha of land.
It is developed and operated by Country Garden Pacificview (CGPV) Sdn Bhd. CGPV is a 40:60 joint venture between Esplanade Danga 88 Sdn Bhd and its Guangdong-based partner, Country Garden Group.
Forest City comprises four manmade islands with 2,000ha of reclaimed land near the Second Link, and the remaining 1000ha for a golf resort and industrialised building
system (IBS) base in Gelang Patah.
As it celebrates its third anniversary, the city has started operating a plant on its 161.9ha IBS base, where six factories had been built.
This development has the professional touch of master designer Liang Guokun, who envisioned a garden-based city.
Liang, who has more than 30 years’ experience in golf course management and greening design, had planned for the turf to seamline with the golf courses in Forest City. He personally handpicked the plants from a nursery in Johor and supervised the planting process.
The beautiful coastal garden of Forest City has been praised by SulIbrahim tan of Johor Sultan Sultan Iskandar, and had won the Boston Society of Landscape Architecture Award in 2016 — one of the most influential landscape designing prizes in the United States. On safety and security, Iskandar Puteri police chief Assistant Commissioner Noor Hashim Mohamad had presented Forest City with the honorary title of “Best Safe City” when he visited the site in August last year.
The city is designed with a closedoff security system based on three smart platforms. The first is the island’s video virtual electronic fence that operates 24 hours uninterrupted to foil encroachments and detect trespassers. Once an intrusion is discovered, it will notify the regional administrator.
The second is the integrated security management platform, which will identify threats and raise the alarm in suspicious situations.
This is done by applying artificial intelligence to an image-recognition system. For example, vehicles and people in the system’s blacklist will be reported immediately to security patrols upon detection.
The third platform, the 3D anticontrol platform that combines video and geographic information systems (GIS), is the first of its kind in Southeast Asia.
The stereoscopic control platform is not just a simple data and video overlay, but can perform data tracking based on global GIS and 3D video technology.
There are other advanced identification technologies that enable precise security for residents.
CGPV has roped in Huawei, Cisco, Accenture and Celcom to develop the “Smart City Vision”, which provides diversified smart community services and a closed-off island management system.
For convenience, a community service app, known as “Forest Life”, has been produced for residents to call a repairman, pay their management fees and register visitors in the security system.
Each residential building will be assigned an exclusive butler, who provides a distinguished living service experience and can converse in Malay, English and Chinese.
The development of Forest City is carried out in phases, and phase I condominiums had been delivered in August last year. Phase II units are being handed over to buyers since the first quarter of this year.
Forest City, which has its own coastline, is designed to be a paradise for food, leisure, shopping and tourism.
A total of 74 merchants have been contracted and 54 have opened shop. Key players include duty-free shops, fresh produce supermarkets, health-screening centres, aesthetic centres, SECOO luxury stores and the Sirocco Skybar and Restaurant.
For recreation, there will be water activities at Damai Coast and a sea-view karaoke at Phoenix Capital Club in Phoenix Hotel. Parents can also send their children to the prestigious Shattuck-St Mary’s Forest City International School.
Until now, Forest City has caused a spillover by creating more than 1,300 jobs.
CGPV is also steadfast in supporting the government’s National Community Policy (DKN), which aims to transform the lives of people in the B40 category.
CGPV was awarded a certificate of corporate social responsibility (CSR) contribution during the official launch of DKN for its efforts in improving the life of residents in People’s Housing Projects (PPR).
Its director of strategy, Ng Zhu Hann, received the certificate from Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on Feb 17.
CGPV is adopting PPR Tampoi and the first phase of PPR Sungai Melana, where it will upgrade the roads around the flats and organise gotong-royong with residents.
It also plans to repair the playground and sports facilities at PPR Sungai Melana, and set up a daycare centre in PPR Tampoi.