The construction of the multibillion ringgit project Forest City has not been without controversy.
The green, futuristic and smart city became the talk of the nation yet again recently when a woman, who claimed to have bought an apartment in the area, lambasted it as being a ghost town.
She was not the only one.
The New Straits Times recently went down to the mega city to witness just how deep the sentiment is — even among the locals.
"Oh, you went to Forest City? That's a ghost town," uttered a Johorean spontaneously when told that the reporters had just visited the more than 1,370ha-wide area.
SERENE RESIDENCES
There is no denying that Forest City, located at the far end of Tanjung Pelepas, Gelang Patah, is indeed a quiet area, but it is not short of human activity.
The neighbourhood is divided into three main residential areas — Starview Bay, Regalia Park and Ataraxia Park. Ataraxia means a state of serene calmness, and it has the most number of residences, but the lack of occupants can be felt when one enters the area.
But for Nor Masria Mohd Hasan, 39, the tranquillity offered and the size of the property are among the reasons she chose to move to Ataraxia with her family of five from a livelier residence of Regalia Park.
Her main reason for living in Forest City, however, was due to its distance from her workplace.
"I lived in Regalia Park for two years and I just moved into Ataraxia Park about a month ago because this residence has bigger space for my family.
"Most people would prefer Regalia Park and Starview Bay (residences) because they are close to the entrance (of Forest City) and the rent in Regalia Park is lower. One can rent an apartment for less than RM1,000," she said at her seaview apartment.
Nor Masria, who now lives at level five of the 32-level building, said she never had an immediate neighbour for as long she lived there.
"I think, at most, one level has only one tenant, so we never had a neighbour. I was living at level 18 in Regalia Park and am now at level five. We don't have neighbours even within six or 10 houses apart.
"But I am not the type of person who loves to socialise. I opted for a house that is comfortable inside, so I don't care about the outside (being quiet). I love the fact that we are far from others," she said.
LIVELIER HOMES
Starview and Regalia Parks are the two apartments in the Forest City area that are known to be livelier than most.
Many of the property agents whom the NST spoke to admitted that they would promote Starview and Regalia for this reason.
Fatin Adzlin Fisaul, 31, who has been living in Starview for about a month said the area was far from being a "ghost town".
"The environment here is fine, you can hear kids having fun and it's hard to even find parking for those who did not opt for an apartment with parking allocation.
"Claims that it is a ghost town are ridiculous. We have lots of people on weekdays and even more on weekends," she said, adding that they opted for the place as it was close to her husband's workplace in Sultan Abu Bakar Complex.
ABANDONED SHOPLOTS
Most residences are even equipped with shoplots on the ground floor, but unfortunately, almost 90 per cent of them were abandoned.
It is believed that most of the shoplots belong to Chinese nationals and the pandemic travel restrictions orders that were
enforced for more than two
years have led to their abandonment.
Many of these premises once sold furniture, but today their doors are chained and their
furniture are left gathering
dust. There are signs of road cracks, which have been patched up.
A past report had cited that the speed of reclamation work had resulted in cracks along the roads as the new soil was not given time to settle and stabilise.
A SPLASH OF CHEER
The most lively area is, of course, the water theme park area that is filled with parents who were taking advantage of the recent school holidays to spend time with their children.
Visitors can take part in various activities, including riding all-terrain vehicles while visiting the eco museum, and water activities like the water maze, water slide and water obstacle challenge, in addition to capturing beautiful images of the scenery of the man-made beach area with Singapore as the backdrop.
Fatin, who recently visited the venue for the 10th time, said the RM20 entrance fee was great value for money and the place was suitable for all ages.
"The place is cheap and they have lots of pools. It also has a nice view for us to enjoy."
Another destination of interest is the duty-free zone, which is packed with individuals interested in purchasing alcoholic beverages.
Nevertheless, anyone planning to buy other duty-free items such as perfume and chocolates should forgo their wishes since the duty-free stores sell mostly alcoholic drinks.
Many visitors were also seen drinking and enjoying the beach scenery.
Apart from the few duty-free shops and a KK Mart, other shops in the multilevel complex were left abandoned.