TAMAN DESA residents have filed a suit against Kuala Lumpur mayor Mhd Amin Nordin Abdul Aziz to halt construction of a condominium three to four times taller than surrounding ones, The Star reported.

Eleven residents, representing 17 residents associations and management bodies, collectively filed the legal challenge after the mayor granted planning permission for the project known as The Address.

The group obtained leave from the Kuala Lumpur High Court on April 18 for the judicial review to be heard, and had also applied on August 22 for a stay order on the planning permission.

Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) had in August 2016 issued a notice to say it had received an application for planning permission for The Address. The proposed project comprises 649 units in three blocks of 34 to 42 storeys, which would increase density from 60 persons per acre to 650 persons per acre.

The residents said the proposed project is on land marked for utilities, not for development. The area is gazetted as Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) reserve land and is also proposed to be gazetted as a green lung, residents said.

“How can they commence work when they have not complied with requirements of local councils by getting relevant permit applications first?” said KY Khong, one of the 11 who sued, at a press conference yesterday.

“All these hoardings – they have to get permits to hoard this place. Where is the permit?”

The 11 residents are from the three neighbouring condominiums affected by the project, namely 10-storey Tiara Faber which has 320 units, 13-storey Desa Eight (24 units), and 13-storey 1 Desa (104 units).

Three schools — SK Danau Perdana, SK Taman Desa, SMK Desa Perdana — are within a 500m radius of the project site, with some of the school buildings located directly opposite the green hoardings and separated by only a road.

Khong said residents had submitted objections to DBKL and an objection hearing was held on September 21 last year, during which officials did not address the points raised. Since then, both DBKL and the developer have not held any further meetings with residents, Khong said.

The court has not fixed a date for the judicial review hearing and will be hearing on November 29 the developer’s application to intervene and be made a party of the lawsuit.

The developer’s intervener application will have to be heard first before the residents’ application to freeze works for the project can be heard, the residents’ lawyer Syahredzan Johan said.

There are 9,682 residential units in Taman Desa, with an estimated population of 38,000. – November 12, 2017.