‘Lesson’ for Johor: Data centres should not be sited too near homes, says assemblyman after outcry

ISKANDAR PUTERI, Johor – A Johor assemblyman has conceded that the recent public uproar over a data centre built too close to homes should serve as a “lesson” for the state government.

The state government should have consulted residents before embarking on data centre projects, Kota Iskandar assemblyman Pandak Ahmad admitted at a March 11 press conference held with Beijing-based data centre operator ZData.

In 2024, ZData, which operates in Malaysia under the subsidiary Computility Technology, and Japan-based NTT Data Group purchased a 43.5ha plot near the Taman Nusa Bayu residential neighbourhood in Iskandar Puteri to build their respective data centre campuses.

Developers began clearing land early in 2025 for construction, which included the levelling of a hill that residents once cherished. In nearby Taman Nusantara Prima, construction hoardings start just outside residents’ backyards.

Mr Ramli Paiman, who lives in Taman Nusantara Prima, said residents had to put up with dust clouds from the nearby construction site that “will fall from the sky into their homes”.

During heavy rain, flash floods occur on the roads surrounding the residential estate, the 65-year-old retiree told The Straits Times.

Residents also believe that the cracks that have appeared in their homes are caused by the vibrations from piling works, he said. And as a result of the land clearing, wild animals like boars and snakes are seen more regularly in the neighbourhood.

Mr Ramli further lamented: “I have two properties but I specifically chose this as home because it had a nice hill behind the house, which is rare in Iskandar Puteri.

“Residents feel unease with this development. This place used to be more peaceful, quiet and much cooler.”

Nusa Bayu residents staged a protest on Feb 7, demanding the Johor Menteri Besar’s office provide more transparency on the state’s plans for data centres, and the potential impact on local power and water supply.

It is a tension playing out across Johor: As the Malaysian state courts billions in data centre investment under the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ), residents near construction sites say they are bearing the costs of a boom they were never consulted about.

Johor has emerged as a regional data centre powerhouse, with 51 approved facilities representing RM182.96 billion (S$59.3 billion) in investment as at November 2025.

But as established tech parks reach capacity, operators are increasingly building closer to residential estates, triggering complaints over dust pollution and flash floods, as ST has previously reported.

The developments have exposed gaps in how mega projects are approved and communicated to affected communities.

“Since the approvals have been made earlier, we, as representatives of the public, are tasked to minimise problems such as dust pollution and flash floods,” said Datuk Pandak.

Computility Technology director Yeo Yong Hwang said during a media tour of the ZData site on March 11 that the current dust problem was likely not from his 15.5ha site, noting that most of its infrastructure had been completed. Pointing to a cleared plot outside the facility’s gates, he said: “That is not my land. So the problem is likely not coming from us.”

He said his firm had spent close to a million ringgit on free car washes, road clean-ups and water spraying to suppress dust, and invested “tens of millions” of ringgit in water recycling plants for the data centre’s cooling systems.

Tropicana Firstwide, master developer of the Tropicana Industrial Park in Gelang Patah where data centres are being developed, said in a March 2 statement that it does not own or control the plots adjacent to ZData’s facility.

Tropicana said its current works are limited to roads, drainage and utility access in designated common areas.

Mr Pandak said Johor, under the JS-SEZ, has introduced business-friendly policies to hasten approvals and attract investors, with data centres among the top investments aimed at creating high-quality tech jobs and stemming the brain drain to Singapore.

“It’s unfortunate that this project is too close to four residential estates,” he said, noting that future data centres should be sited away from homes, pointing to the Southern Industrial and Logistics Cluster and Nusajaya Tech Park as more appropriate locations.

Mr Pandak said: “If the area being used for a data centre is close to homes, ideally there should be some consultation or negotiations with us, so that data centres can exist without causing much trouble to the public.

“Going forward, this will be a lesson, so that people’s perception – which has turned negative with the existence of data centres – can actually become positive once the project is completed and complies with the conditions approved by the local authority.”