MORE than 20 years ago, as one drives towards Sg Buloh on what is the Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong (LDP) today, the landscape was mainly oil palm plantation, orang asli settlement and small factories after leaving Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI).
Over time, the palm trees disappeared and bare yellow earth stretched over the horizon as development set in. That was the beginning of Bandar Utama, one of the most popular townships in Petaling Jaya today with its first phase of double-storey terraced housing sold at about RM180,000 in the early 1990s. Today, they cost more than RM1mil.