LIKE a jigsaw puzzle, the pieces are coming into place as the Johor Baru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link is on track for completion by the end of the year with operation starting early 2027.
As of late 2025, infrastructure is reportedly over 90% complete, rail installation is underway, and joint enforcement legislation is being finalised for the five-minute, 10,000 passenger-per-hour link.
Malaysia’s infrastructure is said to be over 93% complete, while Singapore’s is over 80% complete, with track, signalling, and power system installations ongoing.
It’s an exciting time as history is in the making. The system will connect Bukit Chagar in Johor Baru and Woodlands North in Singapore, in five minutes, capable of handling 10,000 passengers per hour in each direction.
But this is not just a transport link exercise as the impact is a likely 30% to 40% increase in retail leakage from Singapore to Johor Baru following completion, according to a Singapore business news portal.
In Johor Baru, that alignment is now taking shape at the RM5bil integrated Coronation Square, spanning 9.6 acres, where urban redevelopment meets the RTS. Together, they mark not just another phase of growth, but a pivotal moment in how the city functions, feels, and is perceived.
For decades, Johor Baru has lived in the long shadow of its neighbour across the Causeway. It is seen as crowded with a chaotic traffic dispersal system.
But all that is about to change. Without doubt, Johor Baru is a city of potential, energy and resilience, and changes are taking shape.
Coronation Square’s direct integration with it, offers a chance to rewrite that narrative, and give Johor Baru better optics.
Coronation Square’s location next to the Bukit Chagar RTS station elevates it from a conventional development into a true urban threshold – the first and last impression of Johor Baru for thousands of daily commuters, visitors and residents.
The RTS is often discussed in terms of efficiency: shorter travel times, smoother border crossings and reduced congestion.
But what is less talked about is how the RTS will reshape patterns of daily life.
When Johor Baru is connected by fast, reliable rail, movement becomes predictable and almost everything evolves.
Modern city buildings whether in Hong Kong, Beijing or even Bangkok are able to absorb, slow down and redistribute movement. With comfortable ventilation, these buildings encourage walking, gathering and interaction within the city centre itself.
That shift, from throughput to place-making, is where real urban value is created.
The office district in Johor Baru is quiet in the evenings and as a result much business revenue is lost. In many international business centres overseas, they are brightly lit and it becomes alive after office hours, creating business opportunities.
Coronation Square looks set to change this equation by reinforcing the Ibrahim International Business District as a lived-in, multi-purpose core, not just a commercial zone.
Its integration of transit access, public walkways, civic-scale architecture and mixed uses creates the conditions for a more balanced downtown — one where people can live, work, meet and spend time without needing to leave the area.
The shopping mall at Coronation Square should not be another retail outlet but as social infrastructure. When thoughtfully planned, they become places where different communities intersect: families, commuters, tourists, seniors and young people.
What differs Coronation Square mall is its location significance with its relationship to movement and time. In short, people have to pass through it to get to the RTS. With its two-walkways to RTS, it is certain to capture human traffic.
That alone sets the 1.2 million sq ft Coronation Square-slated to be the biggest in the state – from the other malls.
There will also be the five-star 227-room Ascott Hotel, to be managed by Singapore’s Capital Land-owned Ascott. Capital Land will also be managing the mall.
It is the Ascott brand’s debut in Johor in the its first major hospitality partnership since the launch of the landmark Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone agreement between Malaysia and Singapore last year. As a major transit corridor, it will serve commuters passing through, visitors arriving for the first time, and residents using it as a daily convenience.
The real value, then, lies in how the mall supports the surrounding urban ecosystem: activating streets, extending dwell time in the city centre, supporting local employment, and anchoring public life around a shared, accessible space.
National Journalism Laureate Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai is the chairman of Bernama. The views expressed here are the writer’s own
