A sprawling housing complex in south Malaysia has cost billions but is dubbed a ghost city by locals.
Forest City is a billion pound megaproject which promised to be “a dream paradise for all mankind”.
Plans for the incredible metropolis were unveiled back in 2016 and set to cost a staggering £78.9bn ( $100bn). It was planned to house nearly one million people yet the ‘ghost city’ is now nothing more than an eerie no-man’s land.
The city is the work of China’s largest property developer, Country Garden. Their plan was to build an eco-friendly town in Johor, Malaysia which included a golf course, waterpark, offices, bars and restaurants.
At the beginning of the project, China was experiencing a huge property boom where developers borrowed immense amounts of money to build both home and abroad.
However, nine years later, it stands tall yet empty. Currently, only 15 percent of the entire project has actually been completed, with less than two percent of the space occupied.
Properties in Forest City were indirectly aimed at the domestic Chinese market. It offered people the chance to buy a second home in another country. However the prices of the homes were too high for the majority of ordinary Malaysian residents.
Chinese buyers could instead use these properties as investments to let out to the locals.
One 30-year-old engineer, Nazmi Hanafiah, rented a one-bedroom apartment in the complex. However, after six months there he had completely had enough, labelling it a “ghost town”.
Speaking to the BBC, Hanafiah explained how lonely it was around there.
“I didn’t care about my deposit, I didn’t care about the money. I just had to get out,” he said.
Despite the city’s draw of its duty-free status offering cheaper prices, many of the shops and restaurants are closed with multiple units offering nothing but a vacant construction site.
Despite facing soaring debts of neary $200bn, Country Garden told the BBC how “optimistic” they are that the project will be fully completed.
China’s property market remains in a state of disrepair as Country Garden was forced to abandon two other major development projects in Australia last year.