TAMAN Tun Dr Ismail residents have hit back at suggestions that they have been manipulated into opposing a housing project near Taman Rimba Kiara, one of the city’s largest green lungs.

Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said yesterday Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) will go ahead with the proposal to build housing for ex-estate workers which include four high-rises and a highway.

He also accused the protesters of the massive project of being influenced by certain parties, such as the opposition.

“From the very beginning, in the middle of 2016, all activities and actions in relation to the objections and protests were independently organised and staged by the association, residents of TTDI and the public without the influence or interference from any unrelated party,” TTDI residents’ association chairman Abdul Hafiz Abu Bakar said in a statement today.

Hafiz said the protest against the massive project – comprising 29-storey block of affordable housing (350 units), and eight blocks of high-end apartments (42 to 54 storeys, 1,766 units) on 4.86ha of land in Taman Rimba Kiara – was led by residents, whom he described as stakeholders.

The project site (lot 9244) is part of Taman Rimba Kiara and not private property, he said, adding that it is designated as public open space under the Kuala Lumpur City Plan 2020.

The association also hit out at Tengku Adnan’s suggestion that residents were against the construction of affordable public housing for the former estate workers.

“We do not object to the building of the affordable public housing for the resettlement of residents of the existing longhouses there.”

Instead, the objection was to the building of eight blocks of multi-storey luxury apartments and condominiums or any other development, which would reduce the quality of life in the leafy neighbourhood.

Hafiz also urged the minister to meet residents on the matter instead of stating that the project would not encroach into the Taman Kiara Rimba recreational park. – May 9, 2017.