Duty-free zone will boost JB's Forest City, but more must be done: Analysts

Tax-free provisions expected to generate foot traffic, but won't resolve issue of empty condos

- Lu Wei Hoong

In its latest attempt to revive Johor Bahru's Forest City and transform it from ghost town into boom town, Malaysia's government is seeking to gazette an island in the beleaguered mega housing project as a duty-free zone.

Malaysia has passed regulations that will declare Pulau Satu in Forest City a full duty-free zone as part of efforts to revive the struggling megacity.

The Lower House of Parliament on July 17 approved five amendment Bills to turn the 300ha Pulau Satu into a duty-free island, along with Labuan, Langkawi, Tioman and Pangkor. This comes on the back of other measures to change the fortunes of the US$100 billion (S$135 billion) project a stone's throw away from Singapore.

While these tax-free provisions will add to the appeal of the 2,800ha development - more than 5 times the size of Singapore's Sentosa island - it remains to be seen if the slew of measures over the years will inject more life into the project that has been dubbed "ghost city" due to its largely empty condominium units.

Already, the huge development, backed by Chinese developer Country Garden Holdings, was in 2023 designated as a special financial zone by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. There are also ongoing discussions for infrastructure projects, including the Kuala LumpurSingapore High-Speed Rail, and Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone, earmarked for the area.