This is what we think.
Recently, there was an article about Shah Alam turning into a ghost city that received a lot of reactions. Many netizens commented, especially those who stayed for over 30 years in Shah Alam (like yours truly).
We wanted to share a fairer view of Shah Alam city today.
While the article may have done a through investigation on the dwindling occupancy of Plaza Perangsang in Section 14, it failed to recognize that the Shah Alam city center (where Kompleks PKNS used to be the landmark) is no longer the center of activities.
Shah Alam today has grown to more areas than just the city center (Section 2 and Section 14). There are other sections of the city that is equally lively like Section 7, Section 9 (Plaza Masalam), Section 13 (AEON Mall) and Section 15 (IDCC and Shah Alam Autocity)
In fact, newer parts of Shah Alam city has seen more development of residential and commercial activities such as Kota Kemuning (Section 32) and i-City with its upcoming biggest mall in Shah Alam.
We see this shift of activities as a natural flow of development where areas with available land and the right price are being developed. It does not imply that the city planning has failed. As a matter of fact, the development of various buildings such as Plaza Perangsang in the early days in the city center by the state government may have done exactly what it has intended to do, ie. to spark the development of other areas of Shah Alam.
Commercial office space choices are aplenty in Shah Alam – from Wordwide Business Park (with Federal Highway frontage) to the newer UOA Business Park near Glenmarie. Businesses moving away from Plaza Perangsang is not a sign of them leaving Shah Alam. It is just more options are available today and the same happens in other cities, where companies are spoilt for choice for office location.
Further townships in Shah Alam like Bukit Jelutong, Puncak Alam and Bandar Pinggiran Subang are still developing and waiting to be discovered.
We believe many would want to live in Shah Alam if given the choice. Most may have to move out of Shah Alam due the rising property prices or moving closer to work place in other cities.
Shah Alam is close to the hearts of many with its big roundabouts (just kidding), close-to-everything, multiple access points and moderate traffic.
Compared its more menacing neighbouring cities, its steady pace of development makes Shah Alam is a very liveable city.