Photography courtesy of Aspen Group.
What some see as a barren, lifeless expanse of land, Aspen Group and Ikano Pte Ltd see as a goldmine of potential.
“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” From small undertakings to the creation of cities, this holds true and many have found themselves in unfortunate predicaments with few solutions when things are not properly thought out on the drawing board.
George Town can arguably be seen to be in such a situation. With narrow roads, scarce space and a fragile infrastructure, the city is struggling to support the vibrant, energetic and innovative ideas of its population and administration.
To be fair, the Penang state capital was the first ever town in the country to be conferred city status by Queen Elizabeth II in 1957 and it would have been a tall order for anyone at that time to envision what life could be like now, almost 60 years down the road. (George Town lost its city status in the mid-1970s after the city council merged with the Penang Rural District Council but has regained it in March this year.)
Nevertheless, with limited development and expansion choices, developers and the state have turned their sights to other locales to complement and spur Penang’s robust growth and transformation.
Few, however, would have placed their bets on Batu Kawan – a swampy, former agricultural site filled with plantations nestled in the southern end of Seberang Perai. While the choice still raises some eyebrows, a select few visionaries like Aspen Group have already hunkered down and begun work.
