POSTPONING the gazetting of the Kuala Lumpur Structure Plan 2040 (PSKL 2040) is good but issues that were raised must be addressed, Save Kuala Lumpur (SKL) chairman M. Ali said.

He said SKL has identified 56 pages of issues after studying the original draft plan in July 2020 but Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) has yet to revert to them.

“We need DBKL to incorporate what we had suggested. If they can’t do it then they have to give us reasons.

“They must engage with us. They called years ago for a public hearing and we have given our feedback on the shortcomings and deviations from the plan.

“It is important they draw up a proper plan. We are doing this in the interest of the city, not for personal benefit,” Ali said.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had said PSKL 2040 has been postponed until May 31 to allow DBKL to further engage with stakeholders.

This, he said, would give DBKL sufficient time to talk to stakeholders and get the appropriate feedback on the plan.

Anwar, who chaired the presentation session of the plan by the Federal Territories Department and DBKL on Saturday, said the process of preparing the document was carried out in accordance with the requirements set out in the Federal Territories (Planning) Act 1982.

Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil hoped the postponement will provide space for DBKL to listen and respond to the people’s views.

The Lembah Pantai MP said this was important to ensure the city’s policy planning officers consider the voices of various parties, including its residents’ associations.

“This is important to ensure sustainable development and that no community feels its voice is ignored. I think previously the people of Kuala Lumpur felt they were not involved in the discussion process of Kuala Lumpur’s development.

“I also think it is fair for DBKL to respond to residents’ associations and civil society groups (regarding the proposal), who told me they shared their views but received no feedback,” he said.

Ali said the revised plan presented at a town hall session on March 29 appeared to be substantially different from the draft previously circulated for public consultation in 2020.

“It is not clear whether the current draft presented at the meeting had addressed the multiple issues raised by SKL and other stakeholders in written and oral submissions in May and July 2020.”

He said the issues raised included the lack of data.

“We had highlighted multiple errors and inconsistencies in the data used in the 2020 draft, leading to questions on the integrity of the plan.

“There was a lack of clearly defined policies. Although the consultant made multiple verbal references to policies during the presentation, it is not apparent upon cursory viewing of the revised draft, what the detailed policies are.”

Ali said DBKL must share any revised version of the plan and address the issues that were raised.

“They (DBKL) said they had taken note of our comments. But, they didn’t show us any revised version.

“We need to see what they have included (in the plan) and what they have excluded. We want to see a copy of it. DBKL has to make it available to stakeholders.”

He said on March 20 they had a briefing with DBKL consultants who said they might raise the height of residential buildings. Ali said they also saw affordable housing was not being built near public transportation and there was no proper planning on utilities infrastructure.

“These are our concerns. We want to have a meeting this week and for DBKL to provide a copy of the plan to stakeholders.” – April 11, 2023.