Malaysia’s billionaire king is trying to resuscitate a huge real estate project he helped launch in his homeland, with its Chinese developer Country Garden having succumbed to the property crisis in mainland China.
With plans for luxury condominium towers, hotels, a shopping mall and golf course, the $100bn Forest City development straddling artificial islands on Malaysia’s southern coast was billed as a “dream paradise” when the project was launched in 2014. It aimed to provide homes for as many as 700,000 people across 7,000 acres by 2035.
More than a decade later, the joint venture between China and Malaysia appeared to be more of a ghost city on a recent visit by the Financial Times, with largely empty apartments and quiet streets. In a stark example of the far-reaching effects of China’s economic downturn, the project’s debt-laden developer Country Garden has been unable to prioritise its largest overseas project. It is alleged that only 15 per cent of Forest City has been built in terms of land area.