Northern ambitions

Bandar Perda is a development that was flagged as the Penang state government's 'most ambitious and advanced development to date' in the early 2000s. — The Star

BANDAR Perda, in Seberang Prai, Penang, is no more than 25km and about a 30-minute drive from George Town on a good day.

I was there on a weekend evening, and the commercial area was quiet. The mall nearby, dilapidated and abandoned, stuck out like a sore thumb. Opened in 2008, the Perda City Mall closed abruptly in 2016 and has been the township’s white elephant ever since. The quiet ghost town atmosphere reflects its abandonment.