A Big Erection in Malacca

Taming Sari Tower 110 metres

Malacca’s next big distraction, the latest vulgar Malacca monstrosity, is the Taming Sari Tower, which will be open to the public on Monday, 7^th April 2008, The Taming Sari Tower

Many setbacks have delayed the construction and operation of the 110 metre high tower, an unremarkable erection which is not a visually attractive one either.

There is, at the top, a feeble attempt to depict the Malay dagger, the keris, this looks like a pathetic afterthought, and by day is all but invisible.

The tower will be open from 10:00 to 22:00 daily.

Admission for Malaysians will be RM10 for adults, half price, RM5 for children below 12 years old and for senior citizens above 55 years old.

Foreigners however, please note, you will be ripped off and will have to pay RM20.

The tower which was built at a reported total expenditure of a whopping RM23 million, and was said to have been funded by Kumpulan Melaka Berhad (KPMB), the investment arm of the State Government of Malacca, the tower will reportedly be run by a subsidiary of KPMB called Melaka Taming Sari Berhad (MTSB).

Taming Sari Tower, has a revolving cabin (above) from which visitors will have an elevated view of the local area, much of which consists of drab uninspiring commercial buildings built on reclaimed land.

The air-conditioned revolving cabin, can accommodate up to 80 people, it revolves as it rises from ground level to the top of the tower, and likewise when coming down; it has been reported that the viewing session will last only seven minutes, even if this means seven minutes on the way up and seven minutes on the way down, the revolving cabin, estimated fully loaded weight of say 18 tonnes, will move vertically at a rate of approximately 14 metres per minute over the total height of say 100 metres, or about 28 metres per minute if the up and down trips (200 metres) takes just 7 minutes.

What returns this investment will bring is debatable, but it is doubtful if the investment will ever create any profits, even if it is utilised 50% of its 12 hour daily opening time, and assuming that there is half load of 40 persons, all adults, each trip, and that each round trip turnaround time takes say 20 minutes, the monthly takings will be (6 hrs. x 60) = 360 mins. /20 = 18 trips per day x 40 persons all adults = 720 persons x RM15 (assuming 50% + 50% foreigners, all adults) = RM 10,800 per day x 30 = RM 324,000 per month, so if there is no interest to pay, nothing spent on maintenance, no utility bills and zero overheads, it would take 71 months (say 6 years) to recoup the capital outlay of RM23 million.

In reality it would take much much longer to recoup the outlay.

Let's assume that the interest is 10% per annum on the RM 23 million, this will be RM2.3 million per year, or RM191,667 per month, add to this utility (electricity?) costs, salaries, repair and maintenance expenditure, it may be even running at a loss, with little or no prospect of ever recouping the RM 23 million capital spent?

Maintenance will need to be 100%, remember the viewing cabin revolves as it travels quickly up and down the tower.

Better try it out early folks, if you are so inclined, later on it may suffer frequent breakdowns, or be potentially unsafe, since preventive maintenance has never thus far been something Malaysia bothers very much about.

This huge erection staining the cultural heritage of historic Malacca town, follows other such idiotic projects such as the Beady-Eyed Malacca Little Big Wheel, A Multitude of Museums to Anything and Everything and the Great Concrete Galleon!

De gustibus non est disputandum

- There's no accounting for taste