KUALA Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) should immediately reject the application for the construction of a new high-end condominium next to a retention pond in Bangsar, Fahmi Fadzil said.

The Lembah Pantai MP also said that the Federal Territories Land and Mines Department must explain the rationale over the land sale. 

“The department needs to give a full explanation. What were the merits (of the sale)? What were the technical considerations? Why allow the sale of a public facility?

“I believe that with regard to the application (for the project), it should be rejected. So, there is a finality to it,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Fahmi was referring to the proposed development of luxury apartments at Jalan Maarof. 

On Saturday, Bukit Bandaraya Residents Association said in a statement that DBKL had granted conditional approval for planning permission to develop luxury apartments on two lots of land.

They said that the land was sold to a developer named Sri Haneco in 2017, where on one of the lots there was a retention pond used to temporarily store water run-off from Federal Hill and nearby areas to prevent flash floods.

The association also said there has been no public consultation with local residents on the change in land use, contrary to what was reported in the online media quoting sources from DBKL.

Fahmi said there should be discussions with the authorities and developers, that the plot should be returned as government land and preserved as a public facility. 

“Over the years in Lembah Pantai we have seen pieces of land, meant to be open spaces, given temporary occupancy licence and then land transactions (occurred). 

“It’s more important that this land is returned to the government because we can see with this climate crisis that even Bangsar was flooded recently.”

He added that all parties should come to terms with the position of Federal Territories Minister Shahidan Kassim that all these strategic pieces of land must remain with the government. 

“The authorities have to find a way to ensure the land is returned to the government and it can be preserved. 

“There also must be a commitment to not undertake any such transactions in the future.”

In February, Shahidan said there have been no commercial development projects approved at six water retention ponds in the city. 

He also said the process of issuing land titles for the areas near the two ponds was under the purview of the land and mines director-general. 

Fahmi said that the federal land commissioner should be a party to this discussion and they can get the land back. 

He said that an official letter on their grouses will be sent out to Kuala Lumpur mayor Mahadi Che Ngah, Shahidan and the Federal Territories Land and Mines director. 

“The matter will also be raised during the next parliament sitting.”

Meanwhile, Bukit Bandaraya Residents Association adviser M. Ali said that authorities should reject the proposed project. 

“They (DBKL) should scrap the whole thing. Until today, there is no environmental, traffic and social assessment reports.

“There was also no engagement with the community and with the immediate residents in the area. It all looks very wishy-washy.”

He said that according to what they know, the land was transacted in 2017. 

“It (retention pond) was in the Kuala Lumpur City Plan, which was approved by former Federal Territories minister Khalid Samad. 

“It is identified as a river retention pond. So, how could its land use be changed just like that? Why did DBKL consider planning approval? It contradicts their own city plan.

“The buyers should have done a proper check on the land status.”

Ali said they want the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Public Complaints Bureau and Prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to intervene. 

“Shahidan said they won’t touch retention ponds. So, doesn’t this contradict what he said?

“We want him to reject the application and restore it as a green open space.”

He added by the end of the week they will be sending an objection letter to all parties involved. 

“We will be sending an objection to Shahidan, Mahadi, the department and Ismail.” – September 13, 2022.