The world’s largest shopping mall has opened in Kuala Lumpur featuring Malaysia’s biggest indoor theme park.

Berjaya Times Square is a 7.5 million sq ft integrated retail, leisure and entertainment centre, featuring an extreme sports arena, over 1,000 shops and a hotel and cost RM1.8bn (US$473m) to build.

The 380,000 sq ft indoor theme park called Cosmo’s World, boasts 14 major rides, including four thrill rides and ten family rides. The 0.8km long rollercoaster which starts at level eight of the mall, dips down to level five then ends at level 13 with a loop in between, is the second largest indoor roller coaster in the world. Meanwhile, Kidz Town offers toys and games for younger children and features the mall’s in-house mascots.

The mall also houses Malaysia’s first IMAX 3D theatre as well as a nine-screen cinema and a 56-lane bowling alley plus over 100 cafes, bistros and alfresco dining outlets.

The project was conceived by Vincent Tan, chairman and chief executive of the Berjaya group of companies. Originally due for completion in 1999, Berjaya Times Square was delayed by the Asian financial crisis in the nineties along with a slowdown in the property market. For now, the development remains a private entity of the Tan family, although analysts believe it could either be listed on the stock market or injected into one of the listed companies of the Berjaya Group. The projected number of visitors per month is three million.

Malaysian premier, Dr Mahathir Mohamad said “We hope that this project will be successful in attracting visitors to Malaysia as tourism is a very big business for our country.”

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