a walkway that is 6x the price of a condo!

i refer to the post by my fellow CJ, thomas, entitled 'KL's fully air-conditioned walkway gets thumb up'. please read it first. (of which the photo here was taken from there).

i really wonder do we need a walkway that is air-con? to me, it is kind of ridiculous to have an air-con walkway as the name suggest, it is merely a WALKway. you walk on it, then you walk AWAY from it. are you going to linger on the walkway for 15 mins or 1/2 an hour? no, right. it's just for you to walk past… then why should it be air con. on second thought…. maybe it's good to have air con so that one day when i'm in KL, walking about, feeling hot and tired, i can use the walkway, go up there and remain there for 1/2 hr to rest because of the air-con. hmm… why they didn't provide seats? they might as well turned the air-con walkway into, you know like the highway rest area for express bus and vehicles travellers – this is a walkway rest area for foot passengers. 

anyway do you know this walkway is built by petronas? do you know how much it cost? a cool RM100 million all add up! petronas paid RM3,307 per sq ft of the pedestrian walkway – almost SIX times the per sq ft of a six star condominium in mont kiara! yessiree! and let's not talk about housing scheme for the poor – with that kind of amount, thousands of houses could be build for the poor!

ok the  arithmetic  of RM3,307 psf comes from syed akbar of outsyed the box blog. here i CnP his post for you to read for yourself his findings (but without the comments).

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Here is the news from The Star

Cool way to get around KLCC and Bukit Bintang in pedestrian walkway

excerpts:
==A fully air-conditioned RM100mil pedestrian walkway linking Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) and Bukit Bintang, two major retail and tourism spots here, is open now.

The walkway includes a 562m long and five-metre wide elevated walkway ..with escalator and staircase entry and exit points at strategic and convenient locations.

The project was financed by Petronas under its social contribution programme.

It links the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre to Impiana KLCC Hotel, and the hotel to the Pavilion bridge crossing at Bukit Bintang.==

Folks, RM100 million is a mind boggling amount of money for a 562 metre long walkway.

Lets do some arithmetic : 562m x 5m = 2810 sq. metres. One sq. metre = 10.76 sq feet. So 2810 sm x 10.76 sq ft = 30,235 sq ft.

Petronas has paid RM100.0 million / 30,235 sq ft. = RM3,307 per sq foot (psf) of pedestrian walkway !! Ayo Mama. That is a lot of money.

I do some development work too. Lets do some comparions:

A medium sized bungalow house in KL and the Klang Valley should have a built up area of about 5,000 sq ft. (Smaller than that is Semi-D already). So Petronas' 30,235 sq. ft pedestrian walkway has the floor area of about six medium sized bungalow houses only. Bukan lah besar sangat pun.

The price of a 5,000 sq. ft. bungalow house in say 6000 sq feet of land in non prime areas in the Klang Valley like Country Heights, Kajang (not in Bangsar, Damansara Hts or Kiara ok) should be around RM2.5 – RM2.8 million. This means the psf selling price of the bungalow is about RM500 – RM560 per sq foot. of built up house area.

Six such bungalows (30,000 sf total built up area) can be bought for between RM15.0 – RM16.8 million. This would include land cost, fairly up market fixtures and finishings, at least six bathrooms each and even a jacuzzi in the master bath.

Lets also compare some condominium selling prices in upmarket areas in KL. Here are some psf condominium prices in Kiaramas and Bangsar.

1. KIARAMAS SUTERA penthouse & deluxe units at Mont Kiara 4,000sf. Few units fr RM1.5M onwards.

My comment : This works out to about RM375 only per sq ft.

2. SENI MONT Kiara. Brand new 6star. 19th flr 3541 sqft. 4+tv room+1. Rent RM9K or sale RM750/ sqf. Negotiable.

My comment : Wow, this is 6 star, brand new and it is selling for RM750 per sq foot and NEGOTIABLE.

3. BANGSAR MENARA Bangsar. Extensively renovated unit on lower floor. 1650sf. Modern fitted kitchen, brand new bathrooms, ceiling etc. Move in condition RM1.15m ono ..

My comment : this works out to about RM700 per sq ft.

In comparison Petronas has paid RM 3,307 psf of pedestrian walkway – almost SIX times the psf price of a six star condominium in Mont Kiara.

I dont think Petronas suffered any land acquisition cost (it is elevated above the road). Yes the construction is elevated, light weight steel box girder. The walkway is designed for pedestrians, not cars, buses or lorries. This means the load bearing structures should be fairly light (hence it should cost much less).

I dont think it is paved with 916 gold either. And there are no Jacuzzis provided in case the ever increasing number of KL's vagrants who do populate some of the other walkways at nite, want to take a bath or have a water massage.

Petronas paid RM100.0 million or RM3,307 psf for a 30,285 sq. ft. pedestrian walkway. If you ask me, this type of costing is worse than the lembu condo. Someone had a very early Christmas.