I AM truly shocked when reading a news report stating that the disputes over the proposed housing project at Taman Rimba Kiara (TRK), Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI), will be tabled and finalised at the cabinet meeting next month. The federal territories minister said if the project was scrapped, the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) will have to pay more than RM150 million in compensation to the developer.

The massive project involves the construction of 350 units of affordable houses for Bukit Kiara longhouse residents and eight blocks of up to 54-storey high-end condominiums (close to 1,900 units) on a 4.8ha land. The minister said the project should proceed as the size of the land involved would be reduced to 3.2ha after taking into account the protest from local residents.

Allow me to highlight a few factual errors and some comments so that the paper to be submitted to the cabinet will be consistent with the actual situation.

Firstly, the disputes have gone to the courts and an appeal has been submitted in mid-December 2018 on a decision made by the high court. The appeal date has been fixed for hearing in September 2019 i.e. the court process is still ongoing.

Secondly, how was the amount that DBKL will have to pay the developer as compensation calculated? It seems, through publicly available documents, the more than RM150 million stated is way above the actual amounts expended by the developer.

Thirdly, why did the minister termed it as compensation? Were there any instances of recognition of loss or sufferings? It is more of a refund and it is not true that all were paid to DBKL. More than 50% of actual expenditures was paid as land premium to Pejabat Tanah Wilayah Persekutuan and a substantial sum was paid to Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan as joint venture payments.

Next, the high-end units are serviced apartments and not condominiums. There is a lot of difference between the two.

For the cabinet’s information, there is a joint working committee formed to settle the disputes chaired by the minister but sat only once.

Part of the development is a flyover that will connect the proposed project to the Sprint Highway and expanding Jalan Datuk Sulaiman to be a six-lane dual carriageway. The former will obviously use up more of TRK space and the latter will turn the road from usage mainly by TTDI residents to a heavy usage highway with the TTDI mosque somewhere in the middle.   

There is also a pending MACC investigation on this proposed development.

I trust the esteemed cabinet members will arrive at a judicious decision after perusing the papers submitted by the minister after taking into consideration the above especially, the pending appeal in the courts and the pending MACC investigation.

Sekian. Terima kasih. – March 25, 2019.

* Saleh Mohammed reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.