THE Penang Development Corporation (PDC) is aiming to transform Bandar Cassia in Batu Kawan into a fully developed township and a crowd focal location in the state and the northern region in the next 15 years.
PDC chief executive officer Datuk Mohd Bazid Abd Kahar said Bandar Cassia is the third township that is currently being planned and developed rapidly by the corporation.
“The first and second towns developed by PDC are Bandar Bayan Baru and Bandar Seberang Jaya which have been developed since 1975 and 1976 respectively.
“For Bandar Cassia, we acquired it in 1990 and we are still developing it until now.
“With the size of 6,000 acres, we have a complete masterplan to transform it into a complete township.
“By a complete township, we want the people who live there to have access to everything from education, job opportunity, infrastructure, medical, leisure place, eco-tourism, industrial area, sports facility, housing, public spaces and many others.
“After all, we want to position Bandar Cassia as a highly developed town area with sustainable economic development and high quality of life.
“And we will do our best to complete the Bandar Cassia development plan,” said Mohd Bazid in an exclusive interview with Buletin Mutiara recently.
According to Mohd Bazid, PDC wants to develop Bandar Cassia into an eco city and also to turn it into a medical hub and digital technology hub in Penang.
“To be a medical hub, private hospitals, government hospitals and medical centres of international standards will be built in Bandar Cassia.
“We are also planning to set up 5G infrastructure to ensure that this new township can stay up to date with the current technology.
“Furthermore, every development in Bandar Cassia has been planned carefully by PDC for future needs.
“As an example, we are now working to ensure that every road in Bandar Cassia is constructed wide and spacious so that there will be no need for road widening projects in the future to inconvenience the residents,” he added.
Mohd Bazid said from 6,000 acres of land in Bandar Cassia, there are about 3,000 acres that are still available.
“So, once the Covid-19 situation is under control in our country, we plan to engage actively with more potential investors (foreign companies) to spur their interest to set up businesses in Bandar Cassia to fill up the available land,” he said.
Mohd Bazid also said that despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the development plan for Bandar Cassia has not been neglected.
“As a matter of fact, all the development plans are still work in progress and the overall plan is not affected by the Covid-19 situation.
“PDC also is taking advantage of this pandemic period to reassess the budget for the entire development plan and at the same time adjusting the pace of the development plan,” he added.
He said PDC also wants to build more housing units (mixed housing development project) to cater for the increased population in the future.
“So, for those who are looking to buy a property, I would like to encourage them to choose Bandar Cassia for its strategic location and plenty of public amenities. It will the best place to gather for work, eat, drink, and invest,” he added.
Mohd Bazid also shared a bit of history on why PDC chose Bandar Cassia as the third township after Bandar Bayan Baru and Bandar Seberang Jaya.
“It all began as early as 1989 during the era of the late Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu who was the Penang chief minister back then.
“At that time, from five districts in Penang, south Seberang Perai (SPS) was the most underdeveloped district in the state.
“Thus, the late Tun Dr Lim wanted to bring development to SPS.
“So, he instructed PDC to set up a special task force to analyse and decide which area in SPS could be the focus of future development.
“And PDC at that time chose Batu Kawan because of its strategic location as the third township to be developed. Batu Kawan back then was just a large palm oil plantation and full of scattered villages.
“So, after we acquired Batu Kawan, we rebranded the name to Bandar Cassia but still maintain the word Batu Kawan until today,” he added.
Story by Riadz Akmal
Pix by Noor Siti Nabilah Noorazis