Thursday July 5th 2007 - Putrajaya

My next visit was to Perbadanan Putrajaya, a city authority of the new federal government administration centre of Malaysia. Putrajaya was selected as one of my DeLeuw travel destinations as it offers unique insights into transportation policy planning for a new planned city.

Perbadanan Putrajaya was established in 1995 for the purpose of developing, administering and managing Putrajaya on behalf of the Federal government, and is also entrusted with the functions of a local authority and local planning authority.

Putrajaya is located 25 km (16 miles) south of Kuala Lumpur and 20 km (12 miles) north from Kuala Lumpur International Airport. It was design as a garden city where there are several parks and wetlands around the city center and the housing areas.

My visit to Putrajaya was hosted by Ir. Ab Rahim Md Junoh, Deputy Director of Transportation & Traffic Division in City Services Department. We spent a couple hours in his office discussing transportation master plan for Putrajaya. During planning, the city was designed so that the ratio between public transportation and private vehicle trips is 70:30. In 2002, the ratio is still well below the target, 20:80.

There are a well-maintained network of pedestrian walkways and cycleways.



Integrated public transportation system consisting of bus, taxi and express rail service connect Putrajaya with Kuala Lumpur and the nearby towns. The hub of the transportation system is located at Putrajaya Sentral.



Currently, the bus system is the main transit system in Putrajaya. They have 55 number of buses available, and in the near future, the total number will be increased to 135. I have a personal attachment with the bus system because before retired, my father worked as one of the bus drivers in Putrajaya.



There is about 19-km completed right-of-way and basic infrastructure for a monorail service. However, as the city has only reached about 20% of its population capacity, the project has not started.

Currently, they have completed and still building a number of park-and-ride facilities. With limited parking spaces in the city center, Perbadanan Putrajaya is working very hard to encourage people to use public transportation.



While driving around the city with Mr. Md Junoh, I found that they use a unique system to slow down private cars but not buses called speed cushion.



What impress me about Putrajaya is how beautiful and unique each of the buildings and infrastructures especially the bridges.