Several residents of Desa 1 Residences and Tiara Faber Condominium in Taman Desa urged the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to investigate the conversion of a TNB reserve land to development land as well as its subsequent sale to a private developer.
In a report filed with MACC, a total of 78 residents want the commission to review the process taken in approving the development of The Address condominium on such a narrow piece of lot, which is very near to some residential properties and schools.
The Address is a high-rise high-density development comprising three towers of more than 30 stories.
To be built on a 132-ft wide land, the site was originally earmarked as a TNB reserve under the former Kuala Lumpur Master Plan and eventually designated as a green area in the Kuala Lumpur Master Plan 2020. It is bordered by low-rise condos Tiara Faber Condominium, Desa 8 and Desa 1 Residences, as well as one secondary school and two primary schools.
The Address also received the approval of Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL) to raise the area’s density to more than 650 persons per acre from just 60 persons per acre.
“Over 200 residents had attended the Kaedah 5 hearing in DBKL on September 21, 2016 and over 40 questions were posed to DBKL. DBKL had promised to call for a second hearing to respond to the questions but there is nothing from DBKL,” said the statement.
“Following the above when residents discovered from the Ministry of Housing and Local Government On-Line OSC Portal that DBKL had given approvals to the developer, residents decided to file for a judicial review against DBKL for the decision to allow development which is, as residents puts it, unsustainable and ridiculous,” it added.
“With such irregularities from the time the first notice under Kaedah 5 [where DBKL gathers feedback from residents and other stakeholders in cases of land conversion and density increases] was put up back in August 2016, [and the] non-response by DBKL to residents, it gives the impression that there are irregularities and improprieties that give rise to the need for a report to MACC.”
The residents slammed Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Utama Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor’s explanation that the DBKL land was sold to developers under the RUMAWIP programme, which targets to build affordable homes for Kuala Lumpur’s low-income group.
“The Address is definitely not an affordable housing project,” said the statement.
The residents’ spokesperson, Valerie Low, noted that the developer did not put up the required project notices when work commenced on the site. In fact, signboards were only put up after a complaint was lodged.
However, the information on the signboard is still incomplete, with the approval references not included, said Low.
Image sourced from Malay Mail.
This article was edited by the editorial team of PropertyGuru. To contact them about this or other stories email editorialteam@propertyguru.com.my
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