Jinjang residents refuse to be evicted until new houses are built

Jinjang Selatan Tambahan residents today demanded that Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) withdraws the eviction notices issued to them and give them an assurance "in black and white" that their new houses will be built.

Razalia Khalid of the DBKL Economic Planning and Development Department accepted the letter from respresentatives of the residents on behalf of Kuala Lumpur Mayor Mohd Amin Nordin Abdul Aziz at the DBKL lobby today.

“I urge the mayor to cancel that eviction notice and begin fresh negotiations with the residents. We want to our new homes to be completed before we move anywhere,” said residents representative Ameer Khan Bargathalli (photo, holding eviction notice).

More than 500 Jinjang Selatan Tambahan residents live in 107 houses located within a 69ha plot of land gazetted for redevelopment by DBKL together with Zil Land Sdn Bhd.

DBKL paid an RM111 million premium for the land in 2013, The Star reported.

On March 15, residents of all the houses in the area received eviction notices from DBKL, warning them to evict by April 14 (this Friday) or risk bearing the financial cost of having their homes demolished.

“We are Malaysian citizens and have lived there for almost 50 years, and suddenly we are given a notice to leave. Our new houses should be built first, before they ask us to move,” said village head A Ponnampalam.

Validity of offer questioned

The residents previously rejected DBKL’s offer of RM1,000 and a 750sq-feet apartment priced at RM42,000 for each family, as well as an ex-gratia payment of RM600 a month to assist them with rent payments pending completion of the new units.

Ameer further questioned the validity of the offer.

“We have not been told where our houses will be built, nor seen the plan for our new units.

“Has the mayor himself seen the plan for our new homes? We demand to see the plan in black and white, for we want confirmation,” he said.

The residents were also wary of what happened to some of their former neighbours who were pressured into accepting the offer mentioned above.

“Thirty houses in the neighbouring plot were demolished by force last August to make way for Phase 1 (of the redevelopment). And, until now, the construction of the houses promised to those former residents has not even begun,” said Ameer.

Last month, the residents group appealed to both Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on the eviction notices they received.

They have since made 320 police reports against the developers.- Mkini