Iskandar Puteri


Iskandar Puteri is a city in Johor Bahru District, Johor, Malaysia. Situated along the Straits of Johor at the southern end of the Malay Peninsula, it is also the southernmost city in Peninsular Malaysia（and thus the southernmost city of continental Eurasia). Iskandar Puteri is adjacent to the city of Johor Bahru, both anchoring Malaysia's third largest urban agglomeration, Iskandar Malaysia, with a population of 1.8 million

History

Sempit Puteri

Historically the area was an old Malay and Orang Asli fishing village and fort that has existed since Srivijaya and part of the Johor Bahru which was then known as Ujong Medini or Tanjung Puteri. It is located at the mouth of Tebrau Strait and has the narrowest distance between the Johore mainland to the Singapore, thus nicknamed as Sempit Puteri in the past.
In 1855, when Temenggung Daeng Ibrahim bin Temenggung Daeng Abdul Rahman won his claim over the Johor mainland, he shifted the capital city of the latest divided Johore from Teluk Belanga to Tanjung Puteri and renamed it as Iskandar Puteri, which later the new township will be named after. The name was however short-lived, when his son Sultan Maharaja Abu Bakar, the 21st Sultan of Johor and the first Sultan of Modern Johor changed it into Johor Bahru upon his coronation as the Maharaja of Johor in 1868 to distinguish his dynasty from the old Sultanate of Johor.

Gelang Patah

During his reign, Jaafar Muhammad was appointed as the first chief minister of Modern Johor. According to story from Yayasan Warisan Johor, during his journey to Sempit Puteri, the paddle of the sampan that Dato Jaafar was boarding, was broken. From that event, the place is known as Gelang Patah. Until the 1950s, the place is still governed under the city of Iskandar Puteri.

Johor Bahru Tengah

On 3 September 1953, Gelang Patah Town Council was founded, followed by Lima Kedai Town Council on 1 August 1954 to oversee the sanitary, welfare and facilities development at the area. On 1 March 1978, Gelang Patah and Lima Kedai Town Council, together with six other town councils in Johor Bahru district, i.e. Skudai, Kangkar Pulai, Ulu Choh, Ulu Tiram, Masai and Plentong formed Johor Bahru Tengah Municipal Council.

Nusajaya

In 1993, during the leadership of the fourth Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, a plan for a second bridge connecting the Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore was brought forward by Halim Saad, who at the time known as a successful young entrepreneur who build the Malaysia longest highway, North-South Expressway, and apprentice to the former Minister of Finance Daim Zainuddin. The cabinet approved the project as the traffic at the then Johor Causeway was already over congested. The new bridge had been connected from the NSE via Second Link to Jurong East of Singapore. His past experience enable Halim to secure financing from Bank via his company Renong Berhad to acquire vast land along the Second Link for his ambitious new township which later known as Nusajaya. The Nusajaya name was given by former Menteri Besar of Johor, Muhyiddin Yassin. Nusajaya was very well planned township and won many award for its sustainable masterplan. Nusajaya become synonym with Johor Bahru Tengah and latter give name to the city.

Iskandar Puteri

In January 2016, Nusajaya was renamed to its former prestige name, Iskandar Puteri by Sultan Ibrahim, current Sultan of Johor. Johor Bahru Tengah Municipal Council was upgraded to Iskandar Puteri City Council in November 2017.

Government

Iskandar Puteri is administered by the Iskandar Puteri City Council. It houses Kota Iskandar, the administrative centre for the government of Johor State. It houses the Johor State Legislative Assembly and Johor Chief Minister's Office. The Mahkota Square also located here.
Due to electoral division by Election Commission of Malaysia, there are four parliamentary and eight state constituencies dividing Iskandar Puteri area. There are parliamentary seat, and parliamentary seat. Eight state seats are state seat; state seat and state seat along with partial and .

Administrative divisions

Iskandar Puteri consists of 11 administrative zones:
Iskandar Puteri is one of the cities in Malaysia. It is the second largest city in Johor. As of 2010, the municipal area of Iskandar Puteri has a population of 515,462. It ranks as the seventh most populous urban centre in Malaysia.
The following is based on Department of Statistics Malaysia 2010 census.

Education

is a 600-acre educational area, which consists of the University of Southampton Malaysia Campus, Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia, University of Reading, Multimedia University, Raffles University, Netherlands Maritime Institute of Technology, Management Development Institute of Singapore, Stellar International School, Marlborough College Malaysia and Raffles American School. Other universities in the city are University of Technology, Malaysia and Southern University College.

Tourist attraction

Puteri Harbour is a marina development that spans 687 acres on the Straits of Johor. Sanrio Hello Kitty Town and Thomas Town were also located at Puteri Harbour.
Legoland Malaysia is one of the main attractions of Johor state, it is a integrated complex containing the Legoland Malaysia and Legoland Water Park theme parks, plus a lifestyle retail centre, offices, hotels, service apartments and residential units. The main theme park includes 70 hands-on rides, slides, shows distributed among the LEGO Technic, LEGO Kingdoms, Imagination, Land of Adventure, LEGO City and MINILAND areas. Another attraction is the Legoland Hotel.
Shopping malls in the city are ÆON Bukit Indah, AEON Taman Universiti, GP Mall, Mall of Medini, Perling Mall, Skudai Parade, Sunway Big Box, Sutera Mall, Tasek Central and U Mall.
FASTrack City will open in 2019.

Iskandar Puteri Residences

Townships such as Gerbang Nusajaya, Casa Almyra, Nusa Sentral, Taman Universiti, Nusa Indah, Taman Nusa Bestari Jaya, Bestari Heights, East Ledang, Estuari, Ledang Heights, Nusa Idaman, Nusa Bayu, Nusa Bestari, Nusa Bestari 2, Nusa Duta, Bukit Indah, Horizon Hills and Sunway Iskandar are located within this zone.

Transportation

Sea

The Port of Tanjung Pelepas, which ranks as Malaysia's largest container port since 2004 lies in the western side of the city. It is the 19th busiest container port in the world as of 2013. Iskandar Puteri houses the Puteri Harbour International Ferry Terminal, with destinations to cities in Indonesia.

Rail

The planning Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail also will serve the city at Gerbang Nusajaya in the future. At present, this plan is temporarily put on hold due to government financial problems.

Road

Within Johor, the Iskandar Coastal Highway and Pasir Gudang Highway links the city to Johor Bahru City, while the Tanjung Kupang Road links the city to Pontian District. The Second Link Expressway and North–South Expressway connect the city to the other states in Peninsular Malaysia.
The Malaysia–Singapore Second Link was built between Kampong Ladang at Tanjung Kupang, Johor and Jalan Ahmad Ibrahim at Tuas, Singapore. The bridge was built to reduce the traffic congestion at the Johor–Singapore Causeway, and was opened to traffic on 2 January 1998. The twin-deck bridge supports a dual-three lane carriageway and its total length over water is 1,920 m.