Sungai Besi

Sungai Besi, also known as Sungei Besi, means "Steel River" in English. It is a town and suburb in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur. From 1974 to 1995, there was a federal constituency named Sungai Besi.

In the past, Sungai Besi was an important place for mining and heavy industries. It had many factories related to steel, such as steelworks and waste steel plants, as well as other steel industries. The Sungei Besi Tin Mine was the largest and deepest open cast alluvial tin mine in the world and in Malaysia.

Over time, Sungai Besi grew from a collection of village settlements into a more developed town. Today, it remains an important area within Kuala Lumpur.

Background and progress

Sungai Besi remains much like it was in the early days, with many wooden buildings and narrow paths. There is a century-old Chinese temple that was founded in 1901.

The area is lively, with many shops, street vendors, and wet markets selling food and fruits. Sungai Besi was once home to a very large tin mine, which is now part of Mines Wellness City. It also had an airport, Sungai Besi Airport, which served Kuala Lumpur until 1965. Later, it was used by the Royal Malaysian Air Force until it closed in 2018 for new developments. In 1982, a camp for Vietnamese boat people was set up there before closing in 1996.

Accessibility and transport

The township of Sungai Besi is easy to reach from the North–South Expressway Southern Route. The road leading into the township is just 400 metres from the Sungai Besi Expressway exit.

The main road in Sungai Besi is Jalan Suasa, which is the main trading centre. It can sometimes get busy with heavy vehicles and cars, especially when tourists visit for the town's famous seafood. The township has a train station called Sungai Besi station on both the Sri Petaling LRT line and Putrajaya MRT line.