Semenyih (2.9 N, 101.85 E) is a small town in Selangor, Malaysia, about 8 km southeast of Kajang along the Kajang-Seremban road. The meaning of the name of the town is not certain. It may derive from a word in a dialect of Negeri Sembilan meaning "hidden". The town is becoming less and less hidden as the Kuala Lumpur conurbation (usually called the Klang Valley) expands. The town shares its name with the Semenyih River , which is the main river passing near the town. The catchment area of this river is an important source of water for the Kuala Lumpur and other parts of the Klang Valley.
The surrounding area is quite hilly, the highest peak nearby being Bukit Arang , 560 m (1838 ft) high. This makes the area home to numerous scenic waterfall sites. An tourist attraction in the town is the Ostrich Wonderland Show Farm. The town is rapidly becoming more accessible, thanks to new highways (such as the Kajang-Seremban Highway and the Kajang SILK Highway), and more attractive due to new development (including, for example, the Malaysian campus of the University of Nottingham). This expansion transformation from town to metropolis is also reflected in the growth in its population. The 15100 people recorded in the 1991 census had grown to over 45000 by 2000. This corresponds to an annual growth rate of 12.9%, compared with the national average of 2.66% over the same period.
A somewhat more controversial development is that the government has identified a site between Semenyih and nearby Broga as the location of a 1.5 billion ringgit incinerator project, designed to reduce Kuala Lumpur's dependence on landfill as a means of waste management. In early 2005, a temporary injunction was issued, stopping work on the project, in response to a lawsuit by residents of the two towns.
References
Kajian Geografi Semenyih (A Study of Semenyih's Geography)