A PROPOSED office building development that would replace a kindergarten in Jalan Lorong Sulaiman 1, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, has residents seeing red.

TTDI Residents’ Association vice-president Clinton Ang said it would immediately take objections to Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL).

“Starting now, we are coordinating objections to this (proposal), and we plan to hold a meeting with members on the matter,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

The proposed development would comprise two seven-storey office buildings with basement levels for parking, built where a kindergarten now stands.

DBKL is receiving objections to the project until Thursday.

“TTDI is under siege. There are actually a few more applications for other projects,” said Ang.

“We have the old gazetted plans for the area, and this area is not for commercial use.”

He said if the office building development got the green light, it would lead to a traffic gridlock in the area.

“The kindergarten and a mosque are already there, and also the Lembah Kiara Park. (Visitors to the park) clog up the roads on weekends.”

TTDI resident Susan Tam criticised the lack of transparency on DBKL’s part in informing residents about the proposed project in Jalan Lorong Sulaiman 1.

She said most residents got to know about the matter only from a photo of a notice describing the project that had been posted on closed social media groups for TTDI folk.

“Another office block in the middle of a residential area is ridiculous. There was no public consultation, or a proper assessment made on the density of the area.

“The advertisement of the proposed development is convenient, in print newspapers and during the busy holiday period, when no one reads the papers.

“It was through social media that most TTDI residents caught this.”

The notice on the project invites the public to file objections before the end of the month.

It also said the advertisement for the development would be published in mainstream newspapers from February 13 to 15.

TTDI residents recently brought DBKL to court, to stop a mammoth development in Taman Rimba Kiara, one of Kuala Lumpur’s largest green lungs.

Last June, DBKL had approved the development of a 29-storey block of affordable housing, comprising 350 units, and eight blocks of high-end apartments, comprising between 42 and 54 levels, and 1,766 units, on a 4.86ha plot in Taman Rimba Kiara, which has been designated as a public open space under the Kuala Lumpur City Plan 2020.

However, the Kuala Lumpur High Court, in December last year, dismissed the TTDI residents’ application for a stay order, and ordered RM10,000 in costs to be paid to each respondent – DBKL, landowner Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan, developer Memang Perkasa Sdn Bhd and the Sunderam Residents’ Association. – February 13, 2018.