Forest City has undergone its business transformation from a city developer to a city operator. The company is fulfilling its corporate social responsibilities step by step. The establishment of high-tech enterprises with long-term development potential in Forest City will provide a solid industrial foundation for the regional economy in the long run. The city is making its way to develop Forest City into a prime model of future cities with industrial integration and great livability.
Looking back the past five years, Forest City has achieved rapid development and remarkable milestones. At such a special moment, let’s take a look at the achievements of Forest City.
Green City
Forest City has always adhered to the concept of sustainable development and has spared no effort in environmental protection and green ecological construction.
Since 2014, Forest City has been continuously cooperating with professional environmental consultant AES, hydrological consultant DHI, Universiti Putra Malaysia and other research institutions. Besides, their landscape team has also formulated a mangrove conservation plan.
The Eco Museum phase 1 exhibition hall has been completed and opened in September 2020. It will serve as a knowledge exchange platform for the residents, local community and other environmental volunteers. Phase 2 and 3 of the Eco Museum will surely become a gathering point for public cultural exchanges.
As an advocate of “Sponge City”, Forest City has built 4 sewage treatment plants with a total capacity of approximately 170,400 P.E. The effluent will then be used for irrigation of roof gardens, vertical greenery, outdoor landscapes, as well as public toilets flushing, and etc. It’s notable that this project has won the title of 2020 Asian Townscape Award.
“Go Green” project was launched in 2019, and it has spearheaded multiple environmental activities to-date. Forest City has garnered support from various volunteers to participate in the green causes and collectively form a green culture.
Since the beginning of 2017, Forest City has deployed hundreds of rubbish classification and recycling devices all over the island.
Smart City
For urban smart operation, Forest City has worked on five aspects: smart management, smart transportation, smart security, smart communities, and smart homes to improve the experience of residents and enterprises in the city enabled by the technologies.
Industry-integrated City
Forest City has never stopped its effort in industrial development. To date, multiple high-tech industries, such as education, medical care, tourism and smart construction have been established here.
- The IBS Phase I plant of Forest City has the largest single plant production capacity in Asia. It is designed to produce 260,000 cubic meters of concrete annually.
- Established in 1858, the Mary School is one of Midwest of America’s oldest college. Under the American curriculum, Mary’s School offers education from kindergarten through high school.
- Forest City has two international standard golf courses, the Legend Golf Course and the Classic Golf Course, attracting golfers from all over the world to come for a golfing feast.
- The establishment of Johor Digital Economy Centre will help develop Johor into a regional centre for e-commerce. It will accelerate the digital transformation of local enterprises, and provide training to the local talents.
- CIMB, one of the largest commercial banks in Malaysia, also set up a new concept digital branch.
The City Is Unveiled
After five years of development, Forest City has formed the shape of a city and has also made a huge contribution to the economic and social development of Johor, Malaysia. Here are the achievements of Forest City with the following figures: (Statistics as of November 2020)
- The total investment of Forest City has exceeded RM 20 billion, with a total planned reclamation area of 30 square kilometres. To date, the completed reclamation area is about 9,088,838 square metres, and the road mileage has reached 35,969 metres.
- To date, the total construction area of Forest City is about 4 million square metres, equivalent to 560 international standard football fields, or 60 Palace of Versailles, or 4 times the total area of Changi Airport terminals.
- As of now, Forest City has paid a total sum of around RM759 million in taxes and fees to different government bodies of Malaysia and created 11077 job opportunities for upstream and downstream industries.
- In terms of CSR, Forest City has invested more than RM140 million in environmental protection, and more than RM53 million for charity, including the adoption of 7 local schools and 7 local villages.
The Green Journey to be continued
In 2020, Forest City published the Forest City Ecological Development Action Plan in conjunction with its 5th anniversary. This plan outlined the mission of Forest City ecological development. Forest City will carry out green infrastructure development as a foundation.
The development of Forest City is a collective effort by different stakeholders. Forest City has also welcomed working partners, businesses, residents as well as employees to celebrate this exceptional milestone by sharing their experiences with Forest City along the way.
The first five-year development plan of Forest City has been concluded, and the next five-year is approaching. Forest City will continue to bring in high-tech industries to empower the economic development, provide the residents with smarter and safer urban management services, create a green and environmentally friendly life experience for the residents and the local community, and promote multicultural integration in the city.
The future is calling, let us join hands and usher into the next five years!
