Forest City is a very large housing project in Johor, in southern Malaysia. A Chinese developer, Country Garden, planned an eco-friendly metropolis with beaches, shops, offices, a golf course and a waterpark. The company said almost one million people would live there. But eight years later, only about 15% of the project is built, and a little over 1% is occupied. Many buildings are dark and empty, so locals call it a “ghost city.”
Some residents feel frustrated and want to leave. One woman says she now feels “free” because she moved out. The developer promised a lively, friendly community, but the reality looks very different. Several reasons explain the problem. China made rules that limited how much companies could borrow and how much Chinese citizens could spend on property abroad. These limits, plus large company debts —nearly $200 billion—created a crisis.
Country Garden tells the BBC it is still optimistic and wants to finish the project. However, it is hard to imagine how a city with so few people now could grow to one million residents soon. For now, Forest City is a symbol of big plans that did not match real life.
Vocabulary:
• metropolis (noun): a very large city
• developer (noun): a company that builds homes or offices
• eco-friendly (adj): good for the environment
• occupied (adj): lived in or used by people
• vacancy (noun): an empty room, flat, or job
• vacant (adj): empty; not used or lived in
• ghost city (noun): a place with many buildings but very few people
• property (noun): buildings or land that someone owns
• real estate (noun): property like houses, flats, offices, and land
• debt (noun): money that you must pay back
• borrow (verb): to take money from a bank and promise to return it
• investment (noun): money put into something to make a profit later
• mortgage (noun): a bank loan to buy a home
• regulation (noun): an official rule made by a government
• crackdown (noun): strong action to control a problem
• downturn (noun): a time when business or the economy is worse
• advertise (verb): to promote something to sell it
• expectation (noun): what you think or hope will happen
• infrastructure (noun): basic services like roads and water for a city
• slogan (noun): a short phrase used to advertise or promote something