{"id":16093,"date":"2025-12-02T09:43:41","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T01:43:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=16093"},"modified":"2025-12-02T09:43:41","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T01:43:41","slug":"like-singapores-orchard-road-malaysias-plan-for-bukit-bintang-upgrade-draws-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=16093","title":{"rendered":"Like \u2018Singapore\u2019s Orchard Road?\u2019 Malaysia\u2019s plan for Bukit Bintang upgrade draws fire"},"content":{"rendered":"


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A government plan to spend nearly US$1 million on decorative lights and other cosmetic upgrades in Kuala Lumpur\u2019s famed Bukit Bintang district has drawn fierce backlash, with residents questioning the priorities of city planners as floods and ageing infrastructure continue to plague the Malaysian<\/span> capital.<\/div>\n

The Housing and Local Government Ministry on Wednesday unveiled the \u201cI Lite U\u201d initiative \u2013 a 4 million ringgit (US$950,000) project to illuminate Bukit Bintang and spruce up its streets ahead of the Visit Malaysia Year 2026 tourism campaign.<\/p>\n

Minister Nga Kor Ming said the goal was to make the entertainment district \u201cno less than Ginza street in Tokyo or Orchard Road in Singapore<\/span>\u201d, with a parade \u201cas good as Disneyland\u2019s\u201d planned for the official launch on January 3.<\/div>\n

But the plan was met with quick disapproval on Malaysia\u2019s raucous social media, with dozens of comments reminding the minister of the constant fear of flash floods and deadly falling trees caused by increasingly unpredictable storms.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo busy focusing on fun only. Fix the flooding first,\u201d read a comment by one Iskandar Arshadi to a social media post on Nga\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n

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\"Rescuers<\/div>
Rescuers stand where a tree fell across Jalan Sultan Ismail, one of Kuala Lumpur\u2019s busiest roads, smashing 17 cars and disrupting monorail service in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on May 7, 2024. Photo: Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Officials, however, argue that a refreshed Bukit Bintang would help Kuala Lumpur remain competitive with other Asian shopping corridors, draw higher\u2011spending tourists and support businesses in the surrounding area, especially ahead of the country\u2019s show\u2011piece tourism year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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A government plan to spend nearly US$1 million on decorative lights and other cosmetic upgrades in Kuala Lumpur\u2019s famed Bukit Bintang district has drawn fierce…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4840],"tags":[7626,1975,5424,202,4409,185,175,1197,209,1887],"class_list":["post-16093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel-globetrotting","tag-bintang","tag-bukit","tag-draws","tag-fire","tag-malaysias","tag-orchard","tag-plan","tag-road","tag-singapores","tag-upgrade","wpcat-4840-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}