KG Baru residents are happy that the old plan of developing this Malay enclave in parcels is back in the picture as opposed to the wholesome proposal put forward by the previous Pakatan Harapan administration.

Kg Baru Settlers’ and Landowners’ Association (Pewaris) secretary Zainudin Ismail said the plan to develop the kampung in parcels is more conducive and achievable.

Under the now-cancelled proposal laid out by the previous Federal Territories minister Khalid Samad, the government wanted to buy the land from the residents and then develop it totally.

However, the new Perikatan Nasional government scrapped the PH deal and brought back the original idea of developing Kg Baru in parcels. 

“The development of parcels is what we want. We gather five pieces of land and we build. This was the original plan.

“We thought Khalid wanted to continue with the plan with his proposal but he wanted to buy over all the land and then redevelop Kg Baru. We were shocked,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Several individuals from Kg Baru, who were in the midst of developing their land according to parcels, had to put the project on hold following Khalid’s plan for Kg Baru.

“Some have done it themselves but when Khalid came in, it had to be stopped. Now the new FT Minister Annuar Musa has brought back the old plan and we can continue,” he added.

There are 108 land parcels in Kg Baru.

Zainudin said Pewaris plans to continue with its own development plan under the wakaf system.

“The development project stays the same. Only the instrument used is the wakaf system.”

Under this system, the land will be developed jointly by the settlers and Federal Territory Islamic Religion Council (Maiwp), which will fund the development.

Pewaris wants to use this scheme to avoid the land owners losing their rights and interest.

The group is waiting to meet the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to seek consent to continue with the project.

“As for now, the minister has not been briefed but the Perbadanan Kampung Baru (PKB) is very much interested because they do not need to use their own money for development.

“We are doing briefing sessions to explain the scheme to Kg Baru folk,” he said.

The group plans to meet Annuar after the parliamentary session ends next week.

PH previously wanted to buy the land at RM1,000 per square foot but did not get the Kg Baru folk’s consent.

The development plan only received 61% approval, apart from involving the estimated cost of land purchase up to RM7.4 billion in addition to other costs that reached almost RM10 billion.

PN cancelled this proposal and formulated a 20-year plan through the Kg Baru 2040 development master plan.

Ahead of that, preliminary development work will be carried out to upgrade the main road infrastructure in the area, including Jalan Raja Uda, Jalan Raja Muda Musa, Jalan Mahmud, the proposed short cut of Jalan Raja Alang to Jalan Raja Uda and the realignment of Jalan Datuk Abdul Malik.

Other development proposals include the construction of the Ampang-Kuala Lumpur Elevated Expressway (Akleh) to Jalan Hassan Salleh and Jalan Sg Baru as well as the construction of the DUKE phase 2A highway entering Kg Baru. – August 24, 2020.