Proton City is a township with industrial, commercial and residential activities spread over 4,000 acres in Muallim District, Perak, Malaysia. It houses the RM1.8 billion Proton carassembly plant. To be fully developed by 2020, Proton City aims to be home to Malaysia's automobile industry. Undertaken by Proton City Development Corp Sdn Bhd, a joint venture between DRB-Hicom Bhd and Proton Bhd, itself a core member of Proton Holdings Bhd, it started in 1996 with an initial investment of RM2.5 billion, beginning with the construction of the Proton plant. The Proton plant has a workforce of more than 2,000 and most of them are expected to live in the area. When Proton City is fully developed, it would have a population of about 240,000. The first settlement in the area - 252 units of apartments - have been handed over to the buyers. These apartments have common facilities that include car and motorcycle parking bays, children's playground, BBQ area, car wash areas, mosque and a nursery/kindergarten on the ground floor of each block and a multipurpose hall. Parcels 19 and 20 when completed in 2007 will have 1,091 apartments, 336 units of single- and double-storey terrace houses, 86 semi-detached houses, 37 bungalows and 36 shop-offices. Proton City is also expected to be home to students and staff of the Sultan Idris Education University, which a few years ago was known as Sultan Idris Teachers' College, one of the country's oldest teachers' training institutions. UPSI, occupying 800 acres within Proton City, is expected to have a student population of 20,000 within four years. The next phase of development at Proton City is the industrial component, which will see the construction of 81 factory lots for the national car's vendors. Other public amenities such as schools, mosque, park, recreational club and man-made wetlands of 24 acres with a large lake, water storage towers, air quality control station, fire station and power station will also be built in the coming months. Modern technology will be put to full use, with a command centre that will monitor all smart home systems. There will be intelligent traffic control, telemedicine, e-commerce and other “k-society” amenities and services integrated into living within Proton City.
