KUALA LUMPUR: Residents in the areas surrounding Bukit Persekutuan are pressing the mayor to freeze the development of a 20-hectare plot of land near KL Sentral, following a land swap deal with developers SP Setia Bhd.
Claiming their pleas have been ignored, they now plan to get the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to investigate the land-swap deal.
Their main worry is that the development will destroy the entire Bukit Persekutuan, commonly known as Federal Hill, among the earliest areas to be developed in modern Kuala Lumpur with many government buildings put up during the British administration.
One of the city’s last remaining patches of green, it is bordered by the busy Lebuhraya Mahameru, Jalan Travers and Jalan Maarof.
Yesterday, surrounding residents including from Bukit Bandaraya and Bangsar Utama gathered to urge mayor Nor Hisham Ahmad Dahlan to fulfil his promise to halt the project, saying city authorities had not conducted any public objection hearing either, as required by law.
“Until now, there is no word from the mayor,” said Selamatkan Kuala Lumpur (SKL) adviser M Ali, adding that Nor Hisham had made a promise to residents to stop the project during a meeting late last year.
“As we speak, there are works ongoing. Residents are very concerned about this.”
He said the developer had yet to submit traffic and environmental assessment reports, or conduct a public hearing to get feedback from residents.
In 2012, SP Setia acquired the land at Bukit Persekutuan in return for the construction of a facility for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Setia Alam, Shah Alam, the developer’s flagship township.
It was reported that the company bought the remaining 50% stake in Setia Federal Hill for RM431.89 million from Mekar Gemilang Sdn Bhd.
Setia Federal Hill includes two parcels of leasehold land near Bangsar totalling about 51.57 acres.
Resident Rachel Yip said not all parcels of land marked for development had their titles changed.
She said a search would show that only the land on Jalan Negeri Sembilan Selatan was transferred to SP Setia.
“This is where several government houses are located which they are now using for the construction workers.
“Where they have completed the government quarters, the land is still under a temporary title. On this land parcel, they have proposed to build a few blocks of Rumahwip (Federal Territory Houses) and a TNB (Tenaga Nasional Bhd) power house.”
She claimed the developer had not obtained a development order.
“As for the land title where NIH stands, it is still under the Federal Lands Commission (FLC),” she said, referring to the land owned by the NIH that formed part of the agreement.
Yip also said there were indications that the development would not be limited to the NIH land, saying the building plan showed a road outlet into Bukit Persekutuan.
“The sketch is vague, but it is visible. Our worry is that if they start building here, they will continue to build outside of the land parcel and eat up the whole hill,” she said.
She fears that roads will be widened and could encroach into the compounds of existing heritage government houses located along the hill slopes.
Long-time resident B Loga said residents were committed to stopping the SP Setia project.
“We have fought off many developers who were eyeing the hill for development.”
Referring to another land-swap deal a decade ago, he said the developers had wanted to build directly in front of the hill, where Lorong Travers is.
“We managed to get them out, so we want SP Setia out, too,” she said.
Loga recalled how residents successfully stopped the plan to build two commercial blocks on institutional land occupied by the Travers police station.
“The Sri Bukit Persekutuan residents took up a case against the developers after they found out that it was a land swap with the Brickfields police station on Jalan Tun Sambanthan.
“They went all out and managed to put a stop to that project, and that land was reinstalled as institutional land,” said Loga. - FMT
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