KUALA Lumpur City Hall has sold 97 properties since 2011 without going through the proper procedures, said the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

“The process was too loose and exposed the government to abuse, and did not protect the interests of City Hall,” PAC chairman Wong Kah Woh (Ipoh Timur-PH) said in a statement today.

PAC said City Hall had given more than 200 development orders (DO) before the Kuala Lumpur City Plan 2020 was approved by the minister.

“This has caused a negative impact to the environment and worsened the density and plot ratio of those areas,” said Wong.

He said the KL City Plan 2020 also differs from the draft plan shown to the public in 2008. 

“The draft plan that was gazette also did not receive any public feedback,” said Wong.

The committee tabled its report on the sale of land owned by Kuala Lumpur City Hall to the Dewan Rakyat today.

The probe into its land sales began in April 2019 and was completed in November the same year.

The PAC said there is also a conflict of interest in the management of Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan (YWP) as the Federal Territories minister and Kuala Lumpur mayor both hold positions in the organisation.

“The conflict of interest arose as YWP purchased land from Kuala Lumpur City Hall.”

The PAC said this was compounded by the fact that YWP is registered under the Companies Act and cannot be audited by the National Audit Department.

Kuala Lumpur City Hall, PAC added, also does not have any standard operating procedures for the disposal of properties it owns. 

“It only improved its processes through a privatisation committee after 2015 by preparing a checklist of procedures,” said Wong.

The committee urged the Federal Territories Ministry to revise the KL City Plan 2020 as more than 200 DOs not included in the draft plan have already been handed out. 

It also urged the government to review the Federal Territories Ministry’s functions and YWP’s suitability in managing properties owned by City Hall. – November 17, 2020.