THE Federal Territories Ministry will let the cabinet decide whether to proceed with the disputed redevelopment of Taman Rimba Kiara in Kuala Lumour, as minister Khalid Samad felt opposition to the proposed project was getting “personal”.

Khalid said he wants to save himself from making a decision and is surrendering his responsibility to the cabinet.

“I’m abdicating my responsibilities, but I promise that all sides will be represented before the cabinet makes a decision.

“It was getting very heated and personal. Damned if I do, Damned if I don’t.

“If I do it then, I’m going to have flak from my colleagues, such as Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh, and Taman Tun Dr Ismail residents,” he said at a media briefing in City Hall today.

Khalid said they wanted a neutral party (the cabinet) to decide and expect a final decision on the matter by the end of May.

The park was rezoned for development by the former Barisan Nasional government and Kuala Lumpur City Hall, but residents of the affluent suburb oppose the project, citing traffic congestion and the loss of one of Kuala Lumpur last green areas.

They said Khalid’s predecessor, Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, had approved the project with elements of conflict of interest and corruption.

Khalid said he will present two options to the cabinet.

The first will be to scale down the development site from 12 acres to six, where the developer will give two acres to build homes for the longhouse residents and give back four acres for the park.

He said the other option is to buy back the land, which will cost City Hall RM150 million and the council will also have to spend another RM25 million to build homes for the longhouse residents that live on the periphery of the park.

“Once our papers are ready then we will inform Yeoh so that she also can prepare her papers to be submitted to cabinet.”

Khalid hopes the TTDI residents will accept any decision for the sake of the longhouse residents.

“I don’t blame the residents, but I appeal to them for the issue to be settled so that they (the longhouse residents) can get their houses.”

The housing woes of the Bukit Kiara longhouse residents have been used as justification for the original plan to build luxury condominium units on the park land.

The longhouse was supposed to temporarily house workers of the fomer rubber estate that TTDI was built on almost 40 years ago.

Today, the longhouse units are in a shabby, pest-infested state as TTDI residents argue with the authorities over the redevelopment of Taman Rimba Kiara.

The redevelopment would mean new and free housing units promised to them a joint venture between Malton Bhd and Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan.

TTDI residents argue that homes for the longhouse residents could be built without destroying the park and driving up the population density of the area. – April 30, 2019.