PETALING JAYA, Selangor – Gamuda Land today hosted a ground-breaking ceremony for the country’s first Luge Activity Park by the renowned Queenstown-based leisure and entertainment operator Skyline Enterprises.
The ceremony, witnessed by Her Excellency Pam Dunn, New Zealand High Commissioner, Mr. Sivasuriyamoorthy Sundara Raja, Deputy Chief Executive Officer (DCEO) Investment Promotion and Facilitation of Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) and Catherine Rusby, New Zealand Trade Commissioner and officiated by Ngan Chee Meng, Chief Executive Officer of Gamuda Land and Chu Wai Lune, Chief Operating Officer of Gamuda Land alongside Geoff McDonald, Chief Executive Officer, Skyline Enterprises, took place at the township of Gamuda Gardens.
The milestone ceremony marks the beginning of construction of the Skyline Luge Activity Park which will open to the public by end of 2023.
“When we create a place, we create a personality. This is because people remember the places they grow up in, places where they create lasting memories. That is why our town-making comprises mindful placemaking to create great community places where people will experience the unique personality of our towns, get a feel for the place and want to be a part of it,” said Chu Wai Lune, Chief Operating Officer of Gamuda Land.
Chu added, “By harnessing our expertise in town-making and leveraging fruitful collaboration with like-minded partners such as Skyline Enterprises for our community placemaking, today’s ceremony demonstrates how we are able to create sustainable developments which can cater to the needs and wants of people, especially ones that are surrounded by nature with ample public spaces for the community.”
Mr. Sivasuriyamoorthy Sundara Raja, Deputy Chief Executive Officer (DCEO), Investment Promotion and Facilitation of MIDA said, “Skyline Enterprises' decision to expand its business in Malaysia is a testament of our country's growing positive business sentiment among the community of tourism investors. Tourism is the third-largest contributor from the services sector towards our GDP. This is due to the fact that Malaysia is one of the biggest ASEAN tourist attractions, drawing hundreds of thousands of tourists to some of the fascinating tourist destinations in Asia. In line with the National Tourism Policy 2020-2030, MIDA aims to harness the competitiveness of Malaysia's tourism industry to attract high-value and innovative investments which empower local communities and achieve other socio-economic development objectives. MIDA will continue to facilitate and support Skyline Enterprise's project implementation and its future expansion.”
Getting the places right to make the town work
"Skyline Enterprises is committed to growing our global operations, and we are excited to be bringing our fun-filled leisure experiences to Malaysia and to Gamuda Gardens. Gamuda Land’s development ethos is aligned to that of Skyline Enterprises in creating a sustainable future for the people and planet. The Skyline Luge Park in Gamuda Gardens will bring a different and
exciting experience for our visitors. It is designed to work within the local terrain and will deliver an exciting ride from the top of the 40m elevated hill,” said Geoff McDonald, Chief Executive Officer, Skyline Enterprises.
Built on a 30,000 sqm site, the Luge Activity Park will be Skyline Enterprises fourth park in Asia with the others located in Singapore and Busan and Tong Yeong in South Korea. The park will feature the world’s first multi-cornered zipline and the country’s first ever ski lift ride.
A gravity-fuelled ride, the Skyline Luge experience is on a 600m purpose-built track with themed landscaping along the route providing an exhilarating experience for visitors. Whilst Skyline Skyride offers visitors a bird’s eye view of Gamuda Gardens and the beauty of the surrounding natural landscape, Skyline Ziplines will soar over the multi-cornered Luge tracks, for an adrenaline-pumping experience.
Gamuda Gardens City Centre – an integrated retail, leisure and commerce park
Keeping in line with targets set under Pillar 1 of the Gamuda Green Plan 2025: Sustainable Planning & Design for Construction, the 50-acre Gamuda Gardens City Centre is mindfully master-planned as an integrated retail, leisure and commerce park.
Designed with an interconnected inner courtyard space, surrounded by office buildings, residences towers and a 1-million sq. ft. regional retail-tainment mall anchored by the Luge Activity Park and a 50,000 sq. ft. Play Park, the masterplan emphasises bicycles over cars, with dedicated tree-lined, car-free, bicycles and pedestrian linear boulevards to encourage greener mobility around town.
“Malls have evolved to be more dynamic rather brick and mortar ones. The novel concept of a biophilic retail-tainment mall focuses on retail, al-fresco F&B and leisure activities set amidst an open-space layout that promotes better natural lighting and ventilation with good connection to nature. Keeping to the biophilic theme, we have also designed a linear park connecting the mall to the play places such as the Luge Activity Park and the Play Park, keeping everything seamlessly connected,” Chu explained.
By end of 2023, Skyline Luge Activity Park, the Play Park encompassing a good mix of wet and dry recreational rides, the linear boulevard flanked by open-air retail spaces on both sides will be ready to kick-start the vibrancy at Gamuda Gardens City Centre. Consequently, the mall will be opened in phases with tenants mix from F&B, retail, entertainment, supermarket and more supporting the community at Gamuda Gardens and its surrounding vicinity.
With a 10-year strategic blueprint in-place to make the Gamuda Gardens township into a full fledge city to cater to the Northern corridor of the Klang Valley, Gamuda Gardens City Centre masterplan calls for an effective placemaking for quality public spaces that contributes to people’s health, happiness and well-being. These initiatives will complement the township’s residential and lifestyle components.
Gamuda Gardens is conveniently accessible via major routes including the North-South, LATAR and Guthrie Corridor Expressways and a mere 15-minutes from Kuala Lumpur.
