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SCMP Reporter

KUALA Lumpur is booming so much that you can watch it grow before your eyes.

  The two tallest buildings in the world are under construction, twin towers that are adding a floor every four days.

  When the Petronas Towers are complete next year, they will soar to 1,475 ft, 21 ft taller than the highest, the Sears Tower in Chicago, and 250 ft taller Hong Kong's Central Plaza, the tallest building in Asia.

  They will have 88 floors, each one in the shape of an eight-pointed Islamic star.

  They will be owned and occupied primarily by Petronas, the state oil company.

  The towers are part of the 22-building City Centre, which will include offices, shopping plazas, luxury hotels and a mosque with room for 6,000 worshippers.

  The price tag: about US$800 million for the twin towers and $2 billion for the rest of the development.

  But on the streets, Malaysian-made Proton cars line up, bumper-to-bumper.

  They are products of a less than 10-year-old car industry.

  Almost every downtown corner has gleaming new bank offices, conduits for foreign investment into Malaysia that totalled $5 billion last year, more than what eastern Europe attracted.

  'Our growth is almost too much for anybody to handle,' said Muthi Samudram, a senior researcher at the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research.

  'But there's so much momentum, I think it will keep going for at least another five years.'   In 1987, Malaysia was mired in a recession and had a modest economy based largely on agriculture and oil.

  Today, the country is a striking example of the economic frenzy sweeping the region as it industrialises at a ferocious pace.

  For seven consecutive years, Malaysia's economy has grown at eight per cent or more, annually.

  Inflation is about three per cent and Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, a stern ruler who allows little dissent, wants it down to zero.

  There is virtually full employment.

  But the government's main concern about jobs is keeping out the boatloads of illegal Indonesian immigrants who cross the Straits of Malacca looking for work.

  Dr Mahathir launched its economic reforms in 1986.

  The Government offered tax incentives to lure foreign businesses, lowered taxes on Malaysian businesses and eased export controls, touching off a dramatic rise in exports.

  The surging economy has produced a solid middle-class, generally supportive of the government's pro-business policies.

  But the breakneck pace of development has eaten into much of the city's tropical charm and brought on traffic congestion, pollution and other urban woes.

  'Kuala Lumpur is the smallest of all Asian capitals, but we are approaching the traffic nightmares of much larger cities,' said Gurmit Singh, founder of the Environmental Protection Society of Malaysia.

  Some economists warned that Kuala Lumpur risked over-building and that the economy could be vulnerable in the event of a recession.

  But development continues at a brisk clip.

  'There's still a lot of room for improved efficiency and production,' said Mr Muthi.

  'When we become a more mature economy, such growth rates will be difficult to sustain.' 



New policies alter face of capital city