PRIME Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has been urged to “play a role” in pushing for the development of affordable apartments for Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI) longhouse settlers.

Longhouse residents’ association president Sunderam Vadiveloo said this morning in Putrajaya that a memorandum has been forwarded to Dr Mahathir in efforts to speed up the housing project.

“This is the second time we have submitted a memorandum. The first memorandum was handed over in September last year. We urge the prime minister to look at our plight and order the development to start immediately.

“We have already signed the master resettlement agreement (MRA) in 2015 under the previous Barisan Nasional government. We hope the new government can fulfil the promise to us because we have waited for 37 years for a permanent housing,” he said.

The housing project initially involved 4.8ha of land to build affordable apartments at Mukim Kuala Lumpur in Bukit Kiara.

However, it was scaled down to 3.2ha after a renegotiation.

It was previously reported that Federal Territories Minister Khalid Samad had met the residents and given his assurance that the project would get under way.

The settlers had also met Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh to discuss the issue.

“We have no issue if the government wants to scale it down. In fact, we agreed to it when we met Khalid.

“But do not take us for granted. We are not animals. We have never made any unnecessary demands from the government. We only ask for our demands to be fulfilled,” said Sunderam.

Meanwhile, a longhouse resident told The Malaysia Insight that Khalid and Yeoh were involved in a dispute over the type of housing to be built for the longhouse residents.

It is learnt that Khalid agreed with the low-cost apartment project but Yeoh wanted a town house project.

“Khalid was okay with the low-cost apartment (plan) but Yeoh wanted a town house. The area is surrounded with the elite in Bukit Kiara.

“The elite in TTDI do not want the longhouse settlers to live in their elite community. In fact, the TTDI residents’ association wants the project to be completely scrapped,” said the man, who requested anonymity.

The residents’ association in Bukit Kiara has long objected to the development of the affordable apartments.

In a bid to stop the project from taking place, the Bukit Kiara association had brought the matter to court. The suit was dismissed.

Under the MRA signed by all 98 families making up the longhouse settlers, each family will be given a free affordable apartment unit and another 100 units will be allocated for the second generation of settlers.

The cabinet is expected to decide on the fate of the project following the submission of proposal papers by Khalid and Yeoh.

There are also two opposing longhouse residents’ association in TTDI. While Sunderam’s group supports having the housing project near Taman Rimba Kiara in the suburbs, the Bukit Kiara Rumah Panjang residents’ association is against it.

Bukit Kiara Rumah Panjang residents’ association secretary M. Sivakumar reportedly said it opposed the high-rise project as the longhouse residents would have to move from their current 1.6ha residence to a 0.4ha plot elsewhere in area. – May 29, 2019.