Malaysia ‘ready’ to host World Urban Forum
A monorail runs in the Golden Triangle area of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The city, which will host the ninth World Urban Forum, has won accolades for innovative approaches to building human settlements. PHOTO | JOHN HEENEMAN | AFP
What you need to know:
- The remarks were made by Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan, who is the Minister of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government of Malaysia, at the UN Habitat in Nairobi.
- Mr Dalhan was speaking during the last day of the second preparatory meeting of the Habitat III Conference, to be held in Quito, Ecuador in 2016.
- Malaysia’s urban innovation has received global acclaim. Accolades include the Habitat Scroll of Honour in 2011 for creating SMART Tunnel.
The capital city of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, is ready to host the ninth session of the World Urban Forum, a Malaysian government official said in Nairobi Thursday.
The remarks were made by Mr Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan, who is the Minister of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government of Malaysia, at the UN Habitat in Nairobi.
Mr Dalhan was speaking during the last day of the second preparatory meeting of the Habitat III Conference, which will be held in Quito, Ecuador in 2016.
“I’m happy that Malaysia has the chance to bring the forum back to Asia,” he said. “It will be the biggest conference that we have ever hosted”.
The last forum was held in Medellin, Colombia, in 2014 and Nanjing, China was the last Asian city to host the forum, in 2005.
Malaysia’s urban innovation has received global acclaim. Accolades include the Habitat Scroll of Honour in 2011 for creating the SMART Tunnel.
According to a citation on UN Habitat's web site, this is the world's first dual-purpose tunnel, which incorporates a storm-water tunnel and a double-deck motorway, solving both flooding and traffic management problems.
While the World Urban Forum is held every two years, the UN Habitat Conference is held every twenty years, with the last one being held in Istanbul in 1996. The two events will coincide in 2016.
Preparations were also ongoing for the 25th session of the UN Habitat governing Council which will be held from April 17 – 23, 2015. President Uhuru Kenyatta will address the meeting on Friday, its first day.
