Prang Besar (alternately
Perang Besar, which is
Malay for "Great War"), was founded in 1921 on land that was jungle, as a
rubber plantation by British veterans of
World War I, hence its name. Its land area of expanded to , and was merged with surrounding estates, including Estet Raja Alang, Estet Galloway and Estet Bukit Prang. Until 1975, what is today Putrajaya, along with adjacent
Cyberjaya, was under the administration of
Hulu Langat District. The vision of 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 fourth prime minister,
Mahathir bin Mohamad. A new city adjacent to Kuala Lumpur was envisioned, where the government would systematically locate its government offices within an efficient administrative hub; as opposed having government offices scattered across the congested Kuala Lumpur. The new name was chosen for the site. The federal government negotiated with the state of Selangor on the prospect of another federal territory. In the mid-1990s, the federal government paid a substantial amount of money to Selangor for approximately of land in Prang Besar,
Selangor. As a result of this land purchase, Selangor now surrounds two federal territories: Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya. Planned as a garden city and an
intelligent city, 38% of the area is green spaces in which the natural landscape is enhanced. The plan incorporated a network of open spaces and wide boulevards. Construction began in August 1995; it was Malaysia's biggest project and one of Southeast Asia's largest, with an estimated final cost of US$8.1 billion. The entire project was designed and constructed by Malaysian companies, with only 10% imported materials. The
1997 Asian financial crisis somewhat slowed the development of Putrajaya. 300 members of the Prime Minister's office staff moved there in 1999, and the remaining government servants moved in 2005. On 1 February 2001, the city was formally transferred to the federal government and declared Malaysia's third federal territory. In 2002, the
KLIA Transit rail line was opened, linking Putrajaya to KLIA in
Sepang. The construction of the
Putrajaya Monorail, which was intended to be the city's metro system, was suspended owing to high costs. One of the monorail suspension bridges in Putrajaya remains unused. In April 2013, the Putrajaya government signed a letter of intent (LOI) with the government of
Sejong City in South Korea to mark co-operation between the two cities. ==Government and politics==