Abandonment and Potential Revivals
The Plaza Rakyat development was put on hold in 1998 due to financial difficulties faced by the developer and the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. Abandonments have similarly plagued several other building projects in Kuala Lumpur as a result of the 1997 financial crisis, such as the Duta Grand Hyatt at the intersection of Jalan Sultan Ismail and Jalan Ampang, and the Vision City, Kuala Lumpur at Jalan Sultan Ismail. As of December 2012, only the base of the Plaza Rakyat complex has been completed.
Efforts to revitalize the project, announced in 2005 and 2006, proved unsuccessful and the project continued to be stalled. On October 26, 2007, it was once again announced that the project would be revived after contract negotiations and amendments with the Government of Malaysia regarding the sale of the premises following the completion of the project. The project was then expected to be completed by 2012. However, little was said subsequently and the project continued to be abandoned.
After a public walkabout of the site by the newly installed Prime Minister Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak in early 2009, the problem of the stalled construction project was looked at yet again. The government gave an ultimatum to the developer, Global Upline, three months from April 2009 to come up with a development plan or have its contract terminated. In July 2009, it was reported that the new contractor would be announced by the following month. However, in August 2009, Federal Territories Minister, Datuk Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin said that the government had yet to accept any proposals from interested developers pending a response from Global Upline.
In December 2009, the government announced that it would terminate the deal with the current developer. The Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Ministry terminated the original contract with Plaza Rakyat Sendirian Berhad in 2010, 12 years after the company abandoned the mixed-development project. As of December 2012, according to Kuala Lumpur mayor Ahmad Phesal Talib, Kuala Lumpur City Hall is going through an arbitration process with the original contractor, with RHB Bank acting as the arbitrator.
Following completion of the arbitration process, Ahmad Phesal has promised to appoint a new contractor for the site. However, he has not disclosed how long the arbitration process may take.
Read more about this topic: Plaza Rakyat
Famous quotes containing the words abandonment and/or potential:
“I am black: I am the incarnation of a complete fusion with the world, an intuitive understanding of the earth, an abandonment of my ego in the heart of the cosmos, and no white man, no matter how intelligent he may be, can ever understand Louis Armstrong and the music of the Congo.”
—Frantz Fanon (1925–1961)
“Much of what contrives to create critical moments in parenting stems from a fundamental misunderstanding as to what the child is capable of at any given age. If a parent misjudges a child’s limitations as well as his own abilities, the potential exists for unreasonable expectations, frustration, disappointment and an unrealistic belief that what the child really needs is to be punished.”
—Lawrence Balter (20th century)