‘Element of fraud’ in RTPJ 2 ammendments

SHAH ALAM -The Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) officers who altered the status of a recreational area belonging to a state agency into a commercial zone have cheated the people.

This was the conclusion of the Selangor Select Committee on Competency, Accountability and Transparency (Selcat) inquiry in its report tabled at the state assembly on Monday.

Describing the MBPJ planning department officers as "reckless, incompetent and unprofessional", Selcat concluded there were "elements of fraud" in the amendments made to the PJ Local Plan Two (RTPJ 2) draft after it was published in the State Gazette.

MBPJ is embroiled in possibly the largest land fraud controversy in Selangor, involving a public field owned by the Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS) which was originally zoned as a recreational area, and was converted into a commercial zone, thus substantially increasing the land value.

Selcat also concluded that the Development Planning Department committed a "serious error" when its officers took it upon themselves to amend the zone of 59 lots, after the state authority endorsed the RTPJ 2 on Jan 13, 2011.

The said "error" was committed without referring to the Town and Country Planning Act and the Selangor Town and Country Planning Department (JBPD), which led the RTPJ 2 draft since the beginning.

Selcat chairman Datuk Teng Chang Khim said although there is no evidence, it is beyond reasonable doubt that the findings show there were "elements of fraud" in the amendments to the RTPJ 2 draft after being published in the State Gazette.

"The committee is of the opinion that the officers were very reckless, incompetent and unprofessional in preparing the RTPJ 2 draft, specifically in the amendment to the zone after it was published in the RTPJ 2 draft Gazette," he said.

Selcat also found that JBPD and MBPJ have failed to comply with the procedures provided in the Act, which spell out public participation process required before any amendment to land zone.

MBPJ planning department officers had maintained they proceeded with the zone amendment to the RTPJ 2 draft after consent from the department.

To which Teng said: "This is a lame defence which does not reflect their professional capabilities and revealed their incompetency."

On May 30, MBPJ councillors at the full board meeting were baffled when councillor Derek Fernandez highlighted that there were two versions of the gazetted RTPJ 2.

The Selcat inquiry found there were three different versions of the local plans in existence, all of which purported to be legal and carried the government gazette notification number.

Selcat, however, said the first version of RTPJ 2 which was approved on April 30, 2010 and endorsed by the National Housing Department on Aug 11, 2010, is valid.

It said the MBPJ Planning Department's failure to provide reasons for changing the recreational area into a commercial zone, revealed "glaring weaknesses".

Selcat recommended the following:

- The Local Planning Authority applies to the State Authority to freeze the land conversion application in local plan draft before it is submitted to the National Housing Department, to avoid altering of main information;

- JPBD reviews and prepares a new work chart for the preparation of the local draft plan to avoid recurrence of this mistake;

- the State Gazette is cancelled and MBPJ directs the State Authority's consent for a new RTPJ 2 to be published in the State Gazette.

-thesundaily