Khalid asks political appointees on DBKL board to quit

Newly appointed Federal Territories Minister Khalid Samad has instructed eight political appointees on the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) advisory board to step down immediately.

"Please step down.

"There is no moral justification for them to hold on to their posts,” he said in a press conference after meeting MPs from Kuala Lumpur today.

Khalid’s instruction only applies to eight of the 13 DBKL advisory board members, with the remaining five being appointed based on their professional qualifications.

When asked what he would do if the eight refused to leave, he said: “Then I will tell the Kuala Lumpur mayor not to use the advisory board, we will form our own committee."

If this scenario would come to pass, he added, the committee would comprise elected representatives from Kuala Lumpur.

Of the eight advisory board members, some were appointed early this year, while others' term will only end in 2019. 

They are Umno politicians Mustapha Kamal Mohd Yusoff, Zainal Abidin Mohd Rafique, Rizalman Mokhtar and Ahmad Faisal Abdul Karim, MCA's Ng How Doo, Gerakan's Wilson Lau, MIC's S Rajah, and MyPPP's Samalah Arumugum.

Gazetting KL City Plan 2020

Khalid also said he plans to push for the draft Kuala Lumpur City Plan 2020 to be gazetted as soon as possible, and will meet Kuala Lumpur mayor Amin Nordin Abd Aziz (photo) to discuss the matter tomorrow.

"Normally, it will not take so long (for the draft masterplan to be gazetted)," he said. 

The first draft of the KL City Plan was supposed to be unveiled in May 2008.

A decade later, DBKL is still amending the proposal based on feedback from the Public Hearing Committee, workshops and new government policies.

Some have expressed concern that the draft plan may not portray the current state of development, saying that it should be reworked. Khalid, however, is against such an idea. 

Redoing the draft plan may take years, he said, and opens up the possibility of further deviation from the draft masterplan.

"If we want to do this fast, the best choice is for us to gazette it as it is first. Then, we will identify developments that go against the original draft masterplan, and we will decide what needs to be done on a case by case basis." 

Though admitting that nothing can be done for projects that have been completed, he assured that those still in the pipeline can be put on hold.

"For those have not been implemented, we can put on hold for the time being. But, again, this is on a case by case basis." 

Last month, The Malaysian Reserve quoted the mayor as saying the DBKL needed another six months to complete the gazetting of the land plots within its jurisdiction as part of the city plan.

This move, he said, would enable authorities to have more control over issues pertaining to land development and its processes within the city, including land transfers and title conversions. - Mkini