Kuching is growing

People in Kuching are talking more and more about 'The Spring', the under construction first megamall that is scheduled to be completed in Nov 2007.

The two-storey shopping mall, which is designed by New Zealand's Warren & Mahoney, will have 150 shops. It has a total lettable area of 350,000 sq ft compared with the combined net retail space of 886,000 sq ft in the 10 existing shopping centres in Kuching. Some 80 outlets in the Spring have been earmarked for the fashion business, 20 for food & beverages outlets and seven for beauty and wellness centres. There will also be a gourmet supermarket, a food court and a 1,400-seat cineplex. About 1,500 car parks would be provided. All the outlets are on lease.the Spring would be on par with major shopping malls in the peninsula, New Zealand and Australia, and would give a new experience in shopping.

That's how laidback Kuching city is you see, people waiting for their first mall to arrive. Congratulations. But coming with us is not just a mere shopping mall. The over desperate aging politicians who yearns very much to see their so called 'city' marching to look more like a 'real city' has been on-going more projects than ever before within the pass few years. Here is an outlook of what they did and will do which I found more attractive.



Firstly is the very cultural DUN building for the politicians to sit on the golden chairs while having their meetings fully sponsored by the poor taxpayer.

Following is the Grand Centro. Grand Centro is the biggest shoping complex cum hotel apartment project in Kuching. With some 1,200,000 square feet of gross building area, it integrates high quality shopping, entertainment, recreation and living facilities under one roof. Situated in the King's Centre area.

Proposed Grand Centro looks like this

And it will replace the current King Centre (a certain area in Kuching that looks like this now)

Thirdly, like Kuala Lumpur (capital of Malaysia) that always goes around showing their favourite landmark Petronas Twin Tower which they draw on ALL the tourism board promotional logos and posters. Kuching has its own plans to come with a new landmark call The Kuching Tower. This building will be the tallest building in our city and The Kuching Tower also forms part of an integrated development plan by conglomerate Cahya Mata Sarawak (CMS) Group for the 240-acre Kuching Isthmus. It's alright if you don't get what I say, just see the picture.

Forget talking about what Kuching will do and the 'under constructions', what Kuching have already done is fore mostly, renovating our International Airport that used to look like a museum cum cultural village. I'm not kidding you, This is what KIA used to look like

After 2 years of renovation, it look pretty much like this now

And a little lit at night makes it better

Not to miss out another upcoming mall located at the 4th and half miles area in Kuching, Boulevard will also be one of the mushrooming hypermarkets. It is scheduled to arrive in Oct 2007.

So this is my report of the impressive developments Kuching has in store for me, I'm sorry I have the hardest time trying to locate 'The Spring's'design layout, it seems like the New Zealanders are very slow at showing off. Until now. Bye Bye.

Disclaims: I'm only acting professional, I have no idea of the project status of any building above. Especially Grand Centro which is under proposal only, don't kick my ass if you don't see that coming up in King Centre. I'm only 17 and a half. I have all the time to spare to see Kuching grows up with me. Thank you.

Reference: All facts and figures above are generated wholly from my mind. There are a few more malls that are under proposal, I am sure they wont be approved.

Giant Hypermarket Kuching (proposed), Isthmus Mall Kuching (proposed), Makro Hypermarket Kuching (proposed), Merdeka Plaza Kuching (proposed City Central), Vista Tunku Shopping Mall (proposed Petra Indah), Megamall Kuching (Proposed Petra Jaya)