Federal territories minister Hannah Yeoh said the government wants to ensure the abandoned project can be revived for the benefit of Kuala Lumpur and its residents.

Following a visit to the project site with DBKL officials today, Yeoh said she expressed her concerns over the situation there.

“This not only affects the image of the city but also raises concerns about the safety and comfort of our city’s residents,” she said in a Facebook post.

The Plaza Rakyat mixed-use project next to the former Puduraya bus terminal was abandoned after its developer faced difficulties in the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.

In 2015, then federal territories minister Tengku Adnan Mansor announced plans to revive the project, with a development plan reportedly finalised two years later.

The project, which was supposed to include high-quality apartments, a five-star hotel, a budget hotel, offices, and a large-scale shopping mall, appeared to have stalled after the change in government in 2018.

In November 2019, Tengku Adnan’s successor, Khalid Samad, said the project would be purchased by a new company to be redeveloped, but after the company settles certain charges set by DBKL.

Reports at the time said a China-based company had bought a 43% stake in the project company, owned by a Singapore-based developer.

Khalid said then that the redevelopment would take 36 to 60 months. However, this hit a snag when the Covid-19 pandemic led to global lockdowns.

In April 2024, The Star reported that DBKL held several rounds of talks with the company on the project to explore how to move forward, but no resolution was reached.