2012 will be an exciting year for us Asians when LEGOLAND opens in Malaysia late next year. Here’s an article from our local newspaper “The Straits Times” previewing the attractions and models built for this upcoming tourist attraction:
“The Taj Mahal is almost done, while Holy Light Church in Johor Bahru and the Malaysian High Court have been completed. But the biggest challenge may simply be carrying them out of the workshop.
At the Model Building Centre in Nusa Cemerlang Industrial Park at Nusajaya in Johor Bahru, a team of 32 builders, the youngest of whom is 22, is labouring with some unusual materials – 30 million LEGO bricks. Inside the nondescript two-storey building, each builder sits at his or her workstation working on different models. The hum of machines is noticeably absent, as each model is painstakingly put together by hand. Silver-coloured tubes hang overhead to suck in fumes from the glue used to put the bricks together. Different piles of bricks are laid out in nearby cartons.
The builders are working day and night to complete 15,000 LEGO model structs for the RM$720 million (SGD$302 million) LEGOLAND Malaysia, which is slated to open late next year.
LEGOLAND Malaysia is one of many projects in the Iskandar development region, which the country’s government wants to build as an economic, leisure and residential hub. LEGOLAND will be the centrepiece of Medini Lifestyle, a lifestyle and entertainment hub. Catering to families with children between ages of 2 and 12, the park will feature more than 40 rides and attractions.”