Tuesday April 7, 2009
By CHARLES FERNANDEZ

IN the old days, Sepang was just a small town where people driving south using the old trunk road will pass without stopping, except for meals or to ease themselves.

But today the former sleepy hollow has become the major air gateway of the nation, with the 10-year-old KL International Airport (KLIA) and the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) located at its doorstep.

The F1 Circuit is located in its vicinity, together with hotels like the Marriott and the Palm Garden Golf Resort.

The RM3bil Sepang Goldcoast Resort in Bagan Lalang, touted as the biggest world-class tourism project in Selangor, is fast taking shape.

The town is under the jurisdiction of the Sepang Municipal Council (MPSp), which was upgraded from a district authority to a municipal council in 2003.

Need time to change: The IOI Resort and Marriott Hotel in Putrajaya.

What is puzzling is that the prominent landmarks in its vicinity, such as the Marriott and Palm Garden, both belonging to the IOI group, use Putrajaya as their postal addresses while the Maybank Complex, BSN Complex and the Universiti Tenaga Nasional (Uniten) use Bangi as their postal addresses although they are under the MPSp jurisdiction.

According to MPSp president Azizan Mohd Sidin. the scenario had often led to confusion, with people wondering if Cyberjaya is under the MPSp jurisdiction.

He told StarMetro that once the IOI Resort City project was completed, the prominent buildings would revert to using the Sepang address.

"The Marriott management needs to discuss with its parent company before it makes any address change. Moreover the hotel has been there even before Sepang became a municipality," he said.

Azizan said IOI had asked that it be given a year to embark on a rebranding exercise.

"We have many places of interest in Sepang but, sad to say, many people still consider it a sleepy hollow.

"Only the KLIA and F1 circuit are considered to be its landmarks.

"Other prominent complexes are not using Sepang as their postal addresses and this does not help us in our endeavour to move forward. We are in discussion to address this issue," Azizan said.

This article is a verbatim copy of the original article from The Star.