A FINAL decision on the fate of Taman Rimba Kiara is expected to be announced by the cabinet by the end of the month, ending years of friction between the state and residents opposed to the development of the green lung in Kuala Lumpur.

“The cabinet will make its decision this month,” Federal Territories Minister Khalid Samad said in a media conference today.

He had earlier defended his press secretary who was criticised by Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Hannah Yeoh for a pre-Raya statement on the controversial housing project in Taman Rimba Kiara. Yeoh said the statement pre-empted the cabinet decision.

Khalid, however, said his press secretary was merely to answering the residents on issues they had raised.

“My press secretary was merely rebutting a a statement by the residents’ associations before Raya, so do not get angry because they (RA) made the statement first,” he said.

Yeoh, who is Segambut MP, had earlier chided Khalid for the statement, saying its support for the development which is under Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan (YWP) showed conflict of interest as Khalid was also chairman of the foundation.

Khalid did not address the allegations of conflict of interest, but reiterated that he had submitted two proposals for the cabinet to decide.

One of the proposal was to scale down the development plan from 5 to 3ha.

“We would also not be penalised by having to compensate the developer RM150 million if we cancel the development order issued by DBKL,” he said.

The minister said even should the cabinet choose to cancel the project, it will still not solve the problem.

“If DBKL cancels (the development order) we will basically return to the starting point: why the development project was proposed in the first place – to provide housing for those living in the longhouse.

“There will be no housing for them.”

Khalid said the new agreement that had been thrashed out with the developers did not entail any development in Taman Rimba park, the cause of the anger of residents in that part of the city.

Residents of Taman Tun Dr Ismail have objected to the project from the get-go, starting from when the park was re-zoned for development by the previous government.

The residents said the project approved by Khalid’s predecessor, Tengku Adnan Mansor, was mired in corruption and rooted in personal interest.

They had slammed Khalid when he said DBKL would have to recompense the developer RM150 million if it were to stop the project.

Lawyers Ambiga Sreenevasan and Derek Fernandez said the question of compensation does not arise as the illegal status of the project freed the city authority from being bound to the terms of the contract. – June 11, 2019.