Bentong slated to be 100% smart city
Liow: It will be equipped with the latest technology from China
SERI KEMBANGAN: Malaysia will establish the first ever Belt and Road smart and green city in Bentong, says its MP Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.
Known as the China Smart Creation (CSC) Smart Eco-Valley @ Bentong, it will be the nation’s first 100% smart city equipped with the latest smart technology from China.
“It will change the landscape of Bentong to be eco-friendly as well and help to further promote eco-tourism there.
“This is in line with the national and state aspirations to turn Bentong into an ‘artificial intelligence smart city’ of the latest century besides being a satellite town and garden city,” Liow said after launching the 2017 Malaysia Belt and Road’s CSC construction industry products and solutions campaign on Tuesday.
The MCA president added that the project, which encompasses smart industry, smart living and smart management capabilities, is expected to start by the year end.
With a gross development value of RM3.5bil, it will see the building of homes, hotels, universities and a wellness centre.
Quantum March Sdn Bhd group CEO Datuk Dr Clement Tan said the project is a joint venture between two local developers – Quantum March and DSA Development Sdn Bhd – and 10 Chinese state-owned companies.
Four agreements relating to the project were signed that day and Tan expected more agreements to be secured later.
Liow also said that Malaysia is looking into setting up a working committee to discuss the proposed Kuala Lumpur-Bangkok High Speed Rail (HSR).
“It is still at a very early stage because we have to implement the HSR for the southern track (KL-Singapore) first,” he said.
In Kuala Lumpur yesterday, Liow, who is also Transport Minister, said it is up to Khazanah Nasional Bhd, Malaysia Airlines’ (MAS) largest shareholder, to decide who will head the national carrier, with the impending departure of CEO Peter Bellew.
“We are confident that the MAS transformation will continue irrespective of who the new chief executive officer or chief operating officer is,” he told reporters at the Malaysian Associated Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s (MAICCI) Deepavali open house.
Liow was asked whether the position vacated by Bellew would be filled by way of a promotion within MAS or a recruitment from outside the company.
He said efforts to put MAS back into the black would continue despite Bellew’s resignation, with the airline’s transformation remaining a top priority.
Yesterday, Bellew issued a state- ment saying that he is leaving MAS and rejoining his former employer, the Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair Holdings PLC, as chief operations officer, on Dec 1.
At the MAICCI event, its president Tan Sri Kenneth Eswaran and wife Puan Sri Vivienne hosted Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and more than 1,000 guests.