Bentong, Pahang, Malaysia

🇲🇾 Bentong (ﺑﻨﺘﻮڠ), the seat of Bentong District, is a town located in western Pahang, Malaysia, at the border with the state of Selangor in the west and the state of Negeri Sembilan in the south.

Government Bentong Municipal Council (Majlis Perbandaran Bentong) is the local authority for the whole of Bentong District including Bentong town. From 5 May 1955 until 30 June 1981, Bentong town was governed by the Bentong Town Council (Majlis Bandaran Bentong). On 1 July 1981, the Bentong Town Council was merged with 5 local councils of Karak, Sungai Dua, Telemong, Manchis and Bukit Tinggi and 8 village councils of Kampung Shafie, Kampung Simpang Pelangai, Sungai Gapoi New Village, Kampung Jambu Rias, Kampung Benus, Genting Sempah, Kampung Janda Baik and Sungai Penjuring New Village to form the Bentong District Council (Majlis Daerah Bentong).

The administrative area of Bentong District Council at the time of establishment was 106.18 square km (41.00 sq mi), consisting 80.26 square km (30.99 sq mi) operational area and 25.92 square km (10.01 sq mi) control area. It was then increased to 1,105.19 square km (426.72 sq mi) on 1 January 2001 consisting new operational area of 867.69 square km (335.02 sq mi) and control area of 237.5 square km (91.7 sq mi). Bentong District Council was upgraded to the present-day Municipal Council on 16 July 2005.

History In the beginning, Bentong subdistrict was under the administration of district of Raub District. The administration was separated in 1919 due to the large size of the district. The district covers an area of 183,112.35 hectares. It is located north-east of Kuala Lumpur, just across the main mountain range, Titiwangsa Mountains. The seat of the district is the town of The original main street going into Bentong town has been modified to a dual carriageway. However, the part of the road which leads to Raub and Kuala Lipis had been upgraded.

Bentong is administered by Bentong Municipal Council and is one of the fastest-growing towns in Pahang. It is similar in size to Raub. Bentong has many light and medium industries, including timber factories, food industries and electronic components assembly factory. It also has one multinational copper wire factory which is the biggest in the country.

Administration Bentong District is divided into 3 mukims which are: • Bentong (68,904 Ha) (Capital) • Sabai (57,157 Ha) • Pelangai (57,058 Ha)

Other than modern housing area, there are 55 traditional villages, 8 FELDA villages, 15 newer villages, and 14 native villages.

Ethnicity Bumiputera, 57.2%; Chinese, 33.4%; Indian, 9.0%; Others, 0.3%.

Infrastructure About 98% of Bentong district's water supply come from PAIP (Pengurusan Air Pahang Berhad / Pahang Water Management), in which daily water production for Bentong district totalled 4.5 litres per gallon per day while the local residents use an estimated 8.7 thousand gallons per day. Most places in the district have access to electricity, having 4 main electricity transformers with combined capacities up to 90 megavolt-amperes. TM (Telekom Malaysia) provides Bentong district residents with 6,207 units of household telephones, 1,092 units of business premises telephones and 125 unit of public phones.

Transport In general, Bentong district's paved roads totalled 837.26 km, comprising 311.22 km of federal roads, 224.51 km of state roads, 124.05 km of urban roads, and 177.48 km of FELDA roads.

Three major routes – 8, E8 and 68 converge at Bentong. Bentong is the eastern end of the old Gombak–Bentong road (Federal Route 68). Federal Route 8 begins in Bentong and goes up all the way to Kota Bharu in Kelantan. The Karak Highway, part of the East Coast Expressway is the main link to Kuala Lumpur as well as the state capital Kuantan.

Motorists from Negeri Sembilan and Malacca that wish to enter Pahang while bypassing the Klang Valley will usually opt for Federal Route 9 which interchanges with the East Coast Expressway in Karak in the eastern part of Bentong constituency.

In terms of public transportation, Bentong is not served by the KTM rail network. There though are buses serving downtown Bentong (through Hentian Raya Bentong) as well as Genting Highlands (which is part of Bentong constituency).

Economy: Retail Downtown Bentong • TF Value-Mart Supermarket

Genting Highlands • First World Plaza • Genting Premium Outlets • Sky Avenue

Education There are 49 primary schools, which include national schools, Chinese-medium schools and Indian-medium schools, in Bentong district, with overall 12,272 students and 869 teachers. As for secondary schools, there are 14 of them including vocational and technical schools, with overall 9,901 students and 755 teachers. There are also four government universities and a private university.

Services Bentong District Hospital, now a Minor Specialist Hospital, is located in the town of Bentong and houses 152 beds. There are 22 health clinics including 19 rural clinics for health promotion and disease prevention. There are 6 government dental clinics, 22 private GP clinics and 3 private dental clinics.

There are also seven police stations and nine police hubs in the district, with a manpower of 355 policemen, and three fire stations with 111 personnel.