Bayan Baru (GPS: 5.32621, 100.29225), (Traditional/Simplified Chinese: 峇央峇魯; Pinyin: Bāyāng Bālǔ) is a township located in Bayan Lepas, Penang. It was established by the Penang Development Corporation in the mid-1970's on what was once paddy fields.
In the earlier years of Bayan Baru's development, the township was prone to floods - there was a joke back then that purchasing a house in Bayan Baru also includes a sampan. The area that Bayan Baru presently occupies was formerly paddy fields. Before that, it was wetlands. It was fed by two main rivers, Sungai Ara and Sungai Relau (which itself comprises more than one stream). During rainy season, these rivers expand. If this coincided with a high tide, a flood would occur.
Over the decades, improved drainage has reduced the possibility of major floods. The mitigation programme included canalising Sungai Ara and Sungai Relau, which are channeled to flow into Sungai Keluang before emptying into the sea. Flash floods still do occur during heavy downpours. These are caused mainly by blocked drains.
It is also worth nothing that the Bayan Baru area was once planned by the British to be a town called Jamestown, to replace George Town. That plan did not materialise, of course, but you can read about it in the Historical Plan to Relocate George Town.
Bayan Baru is one of the most rapidly developed townships in Penang. This is to a large part the direct result of its proximity to the Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone, which is a source of employment for a good many people in Penang. The shift in population south, out of George Town and towards Bayan Baru and its immediate neighborhoods, brought with it mixed blessings. The main road, now called Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah, has been expanded a few times, and now includes the Bayan Lepas Elevated Highway. New shopping malls have also been built in Bayan Baru and its immediate neighborhood. On the other hand, the growth in population has also introduced traffic congestions and jams, something foreign to the area a decade or two ago. Being caught in traffic jam is now a twice daily occurence, at every rush hour.
The annual Pasar Ramadhan Bayan Baru, an annual hawker fair that is held during the fasting month of Ramadhan, is one of the biggest such fairs on Penang Island.
Updates on Bayan Baru
17 April, 2016 The Star (Calls to adjust LRT line) reports Bayan Baru Community Hawkers Association chairman Ooi Teong Eng urging that the proposed Bayan Lepas LRT line pass through inner Bayan Baru for the benefit of hawkers and business complexes located there.
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Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.
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