TAMAN Desa residents today lodged a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), urging the graft-buster to investigate a sale of utility land to a private developer.

The Protect Taman Desa coalition said in a statement that they want MACC to find out how Tenaga Nasional Bhd reserve land and green lung had been converted into commercial land to make way for a high-density residential project.

Residents said they were stonewalled when they raised these questions to City Hall in a public hearing in September last year. 

A developer is currently clearing the land in question to build The Address – three blocks of 34- to 42-storey condominiums.

Residents are concerned that the project would increase the area’s density from 60 persons to 650 persons per 0.4ha.

The narrow plot of land is next to two primary schools, a secondary school and two low-rise residences.

Valerie Low, a spokesman for the residents opposing the project, said the developer had flouted City Hall regulation when it failed to put up the required project notices before it commenced land clearing and construction work.

“Signboards were only put up after complaints were lodged. Till today, the information on the signboard remains incomplete – the approval references are not included and City Hall appears to be turning a blind eye to this,” she said.

Earlier this year, 11 residents, representing 17 residents’ associations and management bodies, took the Kuala Lumpur mayor to court in a bid to halt The Address.

The Protect Taman Desa Coalition is opposing 13 upcoming high-density development projects in their 40-year-old neighbourhood.

They lodged a report with MACC in mid-November over another condominium project on a former playground.

The residents of Armada Villa, a residence immediately next to the project site, had cried foul over the quiet sale of the public land to a developer to build a 44-storey tower.

Protect Taman Desa media coordinator M. Gunasekar said they had yet to hear from MACC about the status of the investigation. – December 27, 2017.