Bright lights ahead for one-time rubber plantation turned city?

From humble rubber plantation to the third city in the state of Selangor, Subang Jaya is brimming with potential, an economist says following its elevation from municipality today.

Yeah Kim Leng, who is attached with Sunway University, said its status as a city could see Subang Jaya receiving higher allocations for development and infrastructure which in turn would allow it to reinforce and maintain its position.

“Economically, it has achieved a higher status where generally it will attract more people and therefore higher growth and an enhanced market,” he told MalaysiaNow.

“It could sustain more business in terms of volume and diversity, and would be a good address to have for business owners.”

Subang Jaya started out as a rubber plantation and developed into a residential township in the 1970s.

Once anchored only by the Subang Parade shopping centre and the Subang Jaya Medical Centre – now known as the Sime Darby Medical Centre – it was recognised as a municipality in 1997 and received the green light from the Cabinet to be accredited as a city late last year.

“Economically, it has achieved a higher status where generally it will attract more people and therefore higher growth and an enhanced market.”

Yeah said it had the potential to attract new industries and provide more job opportunities which would also determine the income profile of its residents.

“It all depends on what its natural advantages are and its focus for growth,” he added, suggesting new growth areas like IT, e-commerce and research and development.

But he cautioned that this would need proper planning as failure to do so could end up accentuating income inequality.

Housing

On room for growth in the property market, Yeah said this would depend on the availability of land as Subang Jaya had been seeing active development for the past few years.

He said higher demand coupled with scarcity of land could result in more high-rise buildings.

“We will probably be seeing more vertical developments in Subang Jaya,” he said.

Ng Seing Liong, former president of the Real Estate and Housing Developers Association, said Subang Jaya had been in demand for about a decade now due to the spillover effect from neighbouring Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya.

Even without proper data on property demand over the past six months, he predicts that interest in the Subang Jaya area will likely continue given its accessibility to these cities.

“Subang Jaya is still considered affordable by KL city folks,” he told MalaysiaNow.

He said its new status as a city would give rise to expectations of systematic cleanliness, well-connected accessibility and efficient infrastructure and amenities.

“A good public transportation system must be one of its main goals as people will be expecting it,” he added.

But in any case, he said, the Subang Jaya council had been performing well so far with no reason for this not to continue.

Noraini Roslan, who was announced as mayor of Subang Jaya today, said the main agenda for the city would be laid out in its strategic plan for 2020-2025.

“The transformative commitment to sustainable urban development will continue to be integrated, with social, economic and environmental elements remaining the main dimensions,” she said.