RESIDENTS in Bukit Rahman Putra (BRP) in Sungai Buloh, Selangor have decided to take legal action against a property developer over a proposal to expand a service road, which will encroach upon a football field.

They said this was their last resort as negotiations with the authorities, developer and the Selayang Municipal Council (MPS) failed to yield any results.

BRP residents representative Keng Pui Kang said the residents last week decided to seek legal representation.

“We have been protesting the encroachment on the field here since 2019.

“We are worried about the only green space in the area, so we have no choice but to seek legal representation.

“We are in talks with lawyers and will also need to start fundraising soon,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

The residents have been strongly opposing plans by a developer to widen a 6m road to 12m at Jalan BRP7/2 in their neighbourhood, which runs adjacent to the field and whose widening will eat into the green space.

The residents claimed that about 59 trees on the field have been marked to be cut down.

The road widening is to allow access to a new development site in their area.

The residents are urging the Selangor government and MPS to cancel the project as 40,000 residents in the vicinity will be affected.

Keng said last Friday several contractors came to the field to fell the trees.

“We stopped them and asked for a letter of approval to cut down the trees.

“The contractors then gave us a set of documents, which included approval from the MPS landscape department.

“They also said trees needed to be chopped down to build a road. We then asked them for the approval letter to build the road, which they didn’t have. So, they left.”

Keng said they want MPS to withdraw the approval for road expansion and let the area remain a recreational land.

He added that they discovered in February the field had been gazetted for recreational use.

“When we went to MPS in April, the officers told us the land had yet to be gazetted in their system.

“We strongly object (to the encroachment) and want to protect the field from abuse because the land was gazetted in 2021.”

Keng said the developer was planning to build 6,000 homes for a population of 24,000 people.

Another BRP representative Lam Kin Tong said they had met with MPS engineering department officials on August 2.

“MPS officers told us that the work order for the road expansion, which had expired in 2021, will be renewed.

“We strongly objected to the decision and said the field had been gazetted.

“We gave a copy of the gazettement to the officers but they told us that they were not aware of it.”

Lam added that they had informed the MPS officers of their intention to take the matter to court.

“The officers told us they are ready to face any litigation.”

The football field encompasses basketball and sepak takraw courts, walkways and jogging tracks.

Residents of BRP, Matang Pagar, Villa Putera, Villa Puteri, Amansari, Sri Indah, Sri Putra, and Kuang use the field.

A petition was also signed by 537 local residents and field users, which was submitted to the MPS president and Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari in 2019. – August 22, 2023.