Putrajaya From PICC

The vision to have a new Federal Government Administrative Centre to replace Kuala Lumpur as the administrative capital emerged in the late 1980s, during the tenure of Malaysia's 4th Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohamad. The new city was proposed to be located between Kuala Lumpur and the new KL International Airport (KLIA).

The Federal government negotiated with the state of Selangor on the prospect of another Federal Territory and in the mid-1990s, the Federal government paid a substantial amount of money to Selangor for approximately 11,320 acres (45.8 km2) of land in Prang Besar, Selangor. As a result of this land purchase, the state of Selangor now completely surrounds two Federal Territories within its borders, namely Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.

Planned as a garden and intelligent city, 38% of the area is reserved for green spaces by emphasising the enhancement of natural landscape. A network of open spaces and wide boulevards were incorporated to the plan. Construction began in August 1995 and it was Malaysia's biggest project and one of Southeast Asia's largest with estimated final cost of US$ 8.1 billion. The entire project was designed and constructed by Malaysian companies with only 10% of the materials imported.

The Asian Financial Crisis of 1997/1998 had somewhat slowed the development of Putrajaya. In 1999, 300 staff members of the Prime Minister's office moved to Putrajaya and the remaining government servants moved in 2005. On 1 February 2001 Tun Dr. Mahathir declared Putrajaya as a Federal Territory with the ceremony of handing over Putrajaya township from the Selangor state authorities.

In 2002, a high speed rail link called KLIA Transit was opened, linking Putrajaya to both Kuala Lumpur and KL International Airport in Sepang. However, construction of the Putrajaya Monorail which was intended to be the city's metro system, was suspended due to costs. One of the monorail suspension bridges in Putrajaya remains unused.

In 2007, the population of Putrajaya was estimated to be over 30,000, which comprised mainly government servants.