Can Kuala Lumpur age gracefully?

Today's letter to the editor would like to see Kuala Lumpur age gracefully. I wonder whether anyone in authority or the town planners would notice the last sentence in the letter “Old is gold! Let’s not replace it with contemporary architecture”. As far as we notice, any new planned development in the city would picture spanking new, ultra modern buildings. The older parts of the city is left to decay as can be seen by the many abandoned shop houses in Petaling Street or Jalan Bandar.

The last time I remembered when there was any spruce up to the buildings in the area was when Kuala Lumpur became host to the Commonwealth Games. That is more than ten years ago. The paint has peeled off and the exterior looks run down. We could even see plants and creepers taking over some of the abandoned buildings. Whenever we walked past a row of these old shop houses, at least one of them would stand out as a sore thumb.

Unkempt, derelict, left to its own devices, exposed to the vagaries of our weather and eventually it might be torn down as it would be unsafe for occupation. Once gone, the likelihood a modern building taking its place is there as it is not worth the effort and time for the owners to maintain the old structure. It makes much better business and practical sense to demolish the crumbling structure.

We cannot expect the owners to preserve their buildings if there are no incentives for them. It is an expensive effort to maintain such buildings with all the old wiring and plumbing within the premises. A make over is needed and that need lots of cash. Most often than not, the financial help is not forthcoming unless the building can generate good returns. That is the choice facing the owners. Do they really want to keep the building as it is or tear it down and build something new in its place.

The new structure would definitely be incongruous in the area but do they have other options?

Image from malaysiapropertynews