Khalid: Gov't's duty to look out for everyone, including developers

Khalid Abdul Samad said today that it is his duty as Federal Territories minister to look out for the interests of all parties involved in the contentious Taman Rimba Kiara development project.

"I think I’ve done my job, but I have to balance all the interests,"  he told reporters during a breaking fast event in Kampung Baru tonight.

"I cannot just say, 'Okay I just want to look after the Taman Tun Dr Ismail residents’ interests and what they want', full stop, and not be bothered about the developer or Kuala Lumpur City Hall, and so on.

“That is not what the government does. The government must look after all."

Khalid insisted that he has tried his best to balance the interests of all parties in the Taman Rimba Kiara project, including the developer, DBKL and TTDI residents.

"So I've covered the interests of the developer, and to the best of my abilities, I've also covered the interests of the residents by ensuring no encroachment into the park.

"I've also covered the interests of DBKL. I cannot just say, ‘Okay, just pay the RM150 million (compensation)'," he said, adding that the money could be put to better use and benefit all of Kuala Lumpur.

The development project, which involves the construction of luxury service apartments and an apartment block to accommodate displaced longhouse residents, was approved by the previous administration.

Development order

In response to Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh saying that two alternatives to the project were proposed to him, Khalid pointed out that the developer has already obtained a development order.

Any further changes to this order, he said, would have to be done with the consent of the developer, or leave the government open to legal action.

Khalid reiterated that the developer had already agreed to downscale the project by returning half the land to affected residents, and halving the number of apartment blocks to four.

TTDI residents have been met on this renegotiated deal, he added, but refused to accept it.

Last week, Khalid said that with the new deal, the developer would get its share, DBKL would save money, residents would get 1.6ha back, and Taman Rimba Kiara would remain unaffected – as the development would only be constructed on the car park and longhouse site.

He called this a “win-win” situation if people were willing to compromise.

Yeoh (photo) previously said that the two alternative proposals for the project show that residents are willing to compromise.

The proposals are for the government to only allow development on the 1.77ha occupied by longhouse residents without encroaching into Taman Rimba Kiara, or for it to be scrapped entirely.

"We stand firm and propose two solutions. One is to cancel the whole project, return the land to the government, and have an open tender to build the proposed townhouses for the longhouse residents," she had said.

"The other proposal is to return the park land to the government, and allow the project to be built within the longhouse footprint and not encroach into the park." -Mkini