Up & Coming JOHOR BAHRU

Its infamous reputation as  “ cowboy town ”  or  “ snatch thief ” heaven recent years,  has it affected the development of the city?

Johor Bahru or J.B, was founded by Temenggong Daeng Ibrahim and a wealthy businessman – Wong Ah Fook in 1855 which it was just a small fishing village. Since 1844, it attracted lots of Chinese to have their black pepper & tea leaves plantations here hence developing it into a business driven township.

It is situated at the very southern tip of peninsular Malaysia. The gateway to Singapore and also the capital of Johor state, one of the 10 districts in Johor state and undoubtly the busiest city in Johor state as well. With a population of around 1.8 million and I must say it’s the second largest city in Malaysia after Kuala Lumpur.

Strategic geographical position, great history behind it, it must be a city full of business opportunities – is that the real case? Even with its infamous reputation as “cowboy town” or “snatch thief” heaven recent years, has it affected the development of the city?

Lets rewind and look at the development done since.
Ten years ago, the major business or administration area for JB is still in the very central of the city, which is around Jalan Wong Ah Fook the co-founder of the city. And all private and government administration offices are built all around it. People would swarm into the city during day and night and fill the streets with cars, buses & bikes.

With development of housing estate, business centers and even shopping complexes in other areas like Tebrau, Johor Jaya, Sutera Utama & Nusajaya diverted the population from city central helped to ease the utilization of city central, which is a positive note.

Same trend of any developing cities all around the globe, the grown population with younger generations with better economical stance moved their focus from city central to these areas.

Personally, I would segregate these “new” areas into 3 areas with landmarks or preferable shopping malls – specifically Jusco & City Square.

Why? Why Jusco? Why not Giant? Carrefour? Tesco?

At this point, I would like to clarify that we are not receiving any “benefits” from Jusco, and my visits to Jusco is less than 10 per year since their existence, hence I am not a big fan of Jusco although it seems to me like Jusco is the favorite malls amongst JB residence until now.
Looking at it on a geographical perspective, each and every Jusco is positioned at a very strategic location and the properties & population around it is identical – they are mostly third or fourth generations with family and mostly are in a same financial bracket.

It plays a big part of decision making process of this generation buyers simply theconvenience of all their “lifestyle” needs: work, relaxation, cinema, karaoke, shopping & dining.

CitySquare –  landmark of JB city center now and the perfect drop off & waiting spot for public transport takers to & from Singapore. Used to be the favourite mall for JB until the rise of the “Jusco era”.
There would be no housing estate surrounding it, but you could find tall buildings with offices and hotels. Nearest housing area would be Taman Pelangi, Taman Sentosa, Taman Suria, Taman Century & Taman Serene Park.

Jusco Tebrau City – by far the busiest Jusco in JB, and properties around it benefited from it. From Austin, Taman Daya, Taman Setia Indah, Taman Gaya, Taman Molek and even some parts of Johor Jaya.

Taman Molek itself has the complete “collection” of banks, both foreign and local banks, which makes it a perfect business administration area for private sector. Most multinationals would setup their branch or area office in this Taman Mount Austin, Taman Gaya, Taman Daya & Taman Setia Indah are all housing estates and it is around 15 minutes drive to Jusco (depending on traffic).

Jusco Bukit Indah –  A total replication of success from Jusco Tebrau City, with Tesco and Giant competing with it. Surrounding area Taman Perling, Nusa Bestari, Taman Bukit Indah and most importantly NusaJaya which will be the next upcoming major development for Johor state itself in line with Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA).

This is how I personally view JB’s development so far, and it is definitely looking great in the near future with some promising developments plans in place.