Kuala Lumpur Chinatown Preservation and MRT Corp

I pass through KL a couple of times a year. The city has given itself over to the car almost entirely now and so any advance in public transport is not only welcome to those of us who find cars dreary and boring but also essential if the city is not to descend into gridlocked chaos and choking asthma filled skies. Malaysia’s MRT Corp is building some public transport – light rail and there are developments in KL’s Chinatown. Preservationists were worried that expanding the light rail around Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock might damage, or see the destruction of, some old buildings – specifically some old shophouses in Jalan Sultan above a planned tunnel. However, MRT Corp has insisted that it can build the tunnel and preserve the shophouses.

I hope this is the case as KL should learn from Singapore. Singapore nearly lost all its old shophouses but managed just before knocking them all down that they were of value. KL Chinatown without shophouses would be a slightly odd thing.

Jalan Sultan shophouses

Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock shophouses