Melaka Island

Melaka Island (Pulau Melaka) is a man-made islet approximately 0.5 km off the coast of Malacca City, the capital city of the Malaysian state of Malacca, just south of its business district Melaka Raya. It was part of the “Twin Island City Centre” waterfront project undertaken by Pulau Kembar Sdn Bhd (formerly Inno Enhance Sdn Bhd), a defunct joint-venture of Larut Consolidated Berhad and Talam Corporation Berhad, which involved the reclamation of two islands measuring 40ha and 50ha respectively.

The Melaka Island development project, launched in May 1996 by then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, was planned to comprise mixed residential and commercial development together with leisure-cum-tourism amenities such as marine theme park, marina, hotels and waterfront activities. It was the first artificial island project and the only twin-island development project in the country. The reclamation of the first island of 40ha and a 300m bridge linking to the mainland had been completed so far, but the second island was never built, with the project experienced numerous completion delays since construction began.

Following the dissolution of the original developer and the subsequent abandonment of its twin-island project, KAJ Development Sdn Bhd intervened and revived the project under the name of Melaka Gateway. The revived project was planned to have four artificial islands with additional port and industrial zone facilities, including one planned island and this island under the original developer and one adjacent natural island – Panjang Island (Pulau Panjang). However, due to a series of obstacles, the project was scaled down to only this island alone with a cruise terminal.