City’s old-timers reflect on Old Town’s history and growth

Skyline showing the Federal Highway towards Petaling Jaya. In 1952, the Selangor government allocated 480ha of the Petaling Garden Estate for a new settlement which was named Petaling Jaya, the country‘s first satellite town.

WHEN the British rulers opened up land adjacent to Kuala Lumpur to ease the burden from an ever-burgeoning population, they could not have foreseen the importance that little new settlement would gain decades later.

In 1952, 480ha of the Petaling Garden Estate in Selangor was allocated for the settlement that was named Petaling Jaya. It was formed by the British to address the overcrowding in Kuala Lumpur.