Putatan

Introduction to Corridor Study

Putatanis a town and asuburbofKota Kinabaluin the state ofSabah,East Malaysia. It is located 5km away from the airport and 20 minutes away from the city centre.The total land area covered is estimated at209.2km (80.79mi). The weather of Putatan is hot and humid throughout the year at 32C and 75% humidity.

The town was located within thedistrictofPenampangon the coast of theWest Coast Divisionbut from 1 March 2007, Putatan became adistricton its own. As of 2010, it has an estimated population of 54,733.

The bustling town of Putatan which was upgraded to a full district over a year ago, will continue to see rapid development in the coming years, Putatan is an important district because of its location just next to the state capital. The development here should be in tandem with that in the City.

A lot of development has been brought to Putatan. In line with this new status, the federal government has allocate RM140 million to improve the road network in the district.

Existing Situation & Current Study

Putatan is developing at a fast rate. A lot of new shop lots, shopping mall, houses, and apartment has been built to counter the needs of local. However, it is said to be over developing as the property there is unaffordable and people often tends to buy their houses at Papar, a town which located not far from Putatan.

Putatan also infamous for having not enough parking slot even before it started to develop. Now the situation become worst after the opening of few shopping mall and hypermarket in Putatan such as Giant, Servay and One Place Mall. The lack of parking place often trigger the traffic congestion problem due to some inconsiderate person.

There are few choices of public transport system available in Putatan such as train, minivan and bus. However, there is still much to improve before it actually benefit the public.

One of the major problem voiced out by the public transport service provider is there is no proper bus stop terminal in Putatan. They have no choice to set up a temporary terminal just next to the railway terminal. Such action will lead to traffic congestion problem and hence, it is prohibited by the authority. Most of them get summoned because of parking their minivan along the roadside. Other than that, the minivan only take off when it is full. There is no proper schedule for them to follow. This often cause inconvenient to the public.

The railway transport system is another alternative solution offered as for now. The train have their own schedule to follow. However, the flexibility for the train to pull over is very low as it need a proper train station to make a stop. Hence, it is less convenient compare to other public transport system.

The train system at Putatan is conventional type unlike the one they having in west Malaysia. There are several factors that affecting the upgrade of conventional train to a modern train system which are:

- Geography Problem

- Financial Problem

- Politic Problem

The current railway system require the train to stop at specific junction to allow the traffic to crossover. This significantly increase the time of travel and gradually reduce the efficiency of railway system.

Temporary Bus Terminal

Minivan Illegal Parking

Lane full with Minivan waiting along roadside

Temporary Bus Terminal

Both lane full with minivan in front One Place Mall

Bus stop half filled with minivan driver

Interviewing Session with the Person in Charge