Monday, August 30, 2021

Bangsar residents cry foul over DBKL decision on Federal Hill

 

Residents of nearby Bangsar Utama have urged DBKL to put the interests of the public ahead of the interests of developers.

PETALING JAYA: Residents of Jalan Abdullah, Bangsar, are crying foul over a decision by Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to formally adopt an alteration to the KL City Plan 2020 to which they had objected.

DBKL had announced in a newspaper advertisement that it had adopted the draft proposal on June 25.

However, the residents said the adopted proposal essentially had the same land use and intensity as before, despite the objections and input given by members of the public.

They questioned the purpose of asking for feedback from the public and organising hearings for objections when their concerns went unheeded.

“No rationale was provided as to why the objections were not accepted, nor were there any attempts made in such a manner to mitigate against the concerns of various hazards and dangers that were raised.”

They had submitted written objections on a proposed change to a lot on Federal Hill, where a commercial development called Setia Federal Hill is coming up. A presentation was also made at a public hearing over the potential of adverse effects caused by hillside development there which they said was prone to landslides.

The residents had also presented the panel with documents from the Geoscience and Mineral Department over the presence of a natural waterway running underground.

“By proceeding to approve the draft proposal, no concern has been shown to the safety concerns put forth. The authorities have run roughshod over the voice of the people despite pleas to preserve the historical heritage and last sizeable green lung in the area.”

“As a judicial review of the KLCP 2020 is pending, DBKL and the federal territories ministry should duly pay heed to the process and stop all amendments until the matter of legality of the plan is decided by the courts.

“Using the alteration/amendment process as a way to legalise the changes to the plan is a strong indicator that the gazetted KLCP 2020 version was incorrectly gazetted,” they said.

They called for the KLCP to be de-gazetted and for any amendments to the plan to be halted, as well as for its 2012 version to be used as a basis for the 2040 plan.

“Set up a transparent and fair process to rectify the deviations from the 2012 version,” they added.

KL mayor Mahadi Che Ngah, when contacted by FMT, said he needed to go through the residents’ statement and discuss the matter with his head of planning and legal affairs first.

SKL chairman M Ali maintained that Mahadi and DBKL must prioritise the interests of the people in its city plans, not developers. “DBKL and the Federal Territories ministry along with the politicians must walk the talk for the interests of the rakyat.” - FMT

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