IKEA BATU KAWAN, BEGINNING OF RAPID CHANGES

The front entrance of IKEA Batu Kawan is guarded by the Malaysia Volunteer Corps Department in controlling the traffic.

(Sumber: Berita DIMENSi / Mohamad Danish)

Flashback to a few years ago, the area was only known as an industrial park full of factories and traffic jams from people working in the area.

Situations are going to change drastically as numerous luxury apartment developments will be open for sale to the public and a huge private education institute is recruiting their student intake.

Numerous mega apartment and residential units are being developed in the area.

(Sumber: Berita DIMENSi / Mohamad Danish)

Aside from the luxury apartment and IKEA, Design Village Outlet is another attraction as it provides a shopping center to the public living nearby as the concept of the place is only shopping for clothes and several food and beverages (F&B) outlets.

However, the area missed out on some important facilities that should be prioritized and developed first to make the area complete for the public.

Ashraff Radzi, 24, a citizen of Batu Kawan, in an interview with DIMENSi expressed his thoughts about the rapid changes in the area.

He said, “I’m glad that the area has progressed well with a lot of buildings developing and streets are getting repaired to give a new image of the place, like before, the place is bleak after the peak hours and can count the numbers of cars passing around.”

Main roads and streets are closed for maintenance work

(Sumber: Berita DIMENSi / Mohamad Danish)

He also said that the area still needs some improvements that will be beneficial to the people that frequently use the road every day.

“Jabatan Perancangan Bandar dan Desa Negeri Pulau Pinang (JPBD) should be concerned with building more necessary facilities first before other venues.

“For example, a new hospital. I witnessed emergencies happen when I was working and attempted to reach for an ambulance but it arrived later than we expected,” Ashraff added.

The only hospital that responds to the area is Sungai Bakap Hospital which is 20 kilometers away from Batu Kawan and needs to endure multiple traffic jams along the way to reach here.

“Aside from having a hospital, facilities like workshops, gas stations, and supermarkets should be prioritized here,” he added.

By having the main public facilities built first, the area will be much more suitable and valuable to visit and stay for a long period without fear of inadequate public infrastructure.

An IKEA employee, Abdullah, expressed some insights and stated that the area would completely develop in two-three years to come.

Abdullah said, “IKEA was built here to help attract more facilities to be open, however, the process was delayed because of COVID-19.”

He believed that IKEA would become the center of attraction to the public as restaurants like Starbucks and McDonalds have launched their outlets recently near to IKEA.

“I believe the plan was to get something that has genuine public interest like big brand outlets built here first and eventually will lead to other public amenities to follow suit,” Abdullah added.

The people of Batu Kawan expect a rapid change of the place, in line with the hopes and dreams that they have longed for as they are the ones who live in the area and surely want the area to be full of amenities and infrastructure.

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