Batu Kawan

 island, town

Batu Kawan is a town and an island within the City of Seberang Perai. It is geographically separated from the rest of Seberang Perai by Sungai Jawi and Sungai Tengah. Batu Kawan lies 20km south of Butterworth. The township is also linked with the Island City of George Town via the Second Penang Bridge.

Batu Kawan had been an agricultural area, where Chinese settlers set up sugarcane plantations as early as 1796. Granite was also mined and shipped via the Batu Musang Jetty to George Town. In the 1960s, the plantations gave way to larger palm oil estates.

However, the rapid development of Batu Kawan only began in earnest in 1990, when the Penang government acquired the island for the development of a new township. In 2014, the Second Penang Bridge was completed, heralding more rapid urbanisation.

Today, Batu Kawan is home to IKEA Penang, the first IKEA store in northern Malaysia, as well as Design Village, Penang's largest outlet mall. The Batu Kawan Industrial Park (BKIP) at the southern end of this new township has attracted a number of multinational companies (MNCs), including Vitrox, Boston Scientific, Bose Corporation, SanDIsk, Hewlett Packard and Seagate. In addition, several developments are currently ongoing within the township, including the construction of foreign university campuses such as the University of Hull and the University of Wollongong. Batu Kawan is also home to the Penang State Stadium, which was completed in 2000 as the state's main sports stadium.