KUALA LUMPUR, June 28 ― Fireworks are set to go off around the Warisan Merdeka project once more as the developers of the 118-storey mega tower are on the verge of getting the go-ahead from the authorities to start work in the historic Stadium Merdeka area.
Last October, the Federal Territories Ministry told Parliament that Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) had yet to issue a development order for the controversial project as the developer still needed to meet one of the six requirements laid down earlier.
But when contacted on Wednesday, a DBKL officer confirmed that project developer PNB Merdeka Ventures Sdn Bhd has since met all the stipulations necessary for the authority to consider issuing the development order.
“They have fulfilled the conditions,” the officer told The Malay Mail Online.
Another officer confirmed that DBKL had advertised a notice inviting objections against the project in newspapers, saying that the two-week period given was part of DBKL’s standard procedure.
“We advertised (for) three days in four newspapers, English, Malay, Tamil and Chinese newspapers,” the officer said, saying that the notice has also been put up at the project site.
The notice sighted by The Malay Mail Online says that it was advertised from June 17 to 19 in Utusan Malaysia, New Straits Times, Sin Chew Daily and Malaysia Nanban.
It also states that the deadline for written objections falls on this July 2.
According to the officer, only objections from the lot owners of properties within 20m from the Warisan Merdeka project will be considered by DBKL.
The notice lists down the lot numbers of the adjoining properties.
“If we don’t receive (any) within two weeks, no objection, we will bring back to the One-Stop Centre (OSC) meeting... to get final decision on development order,” the officer said, explaining that all development applications have to be brought to such meetings and be cleared by the city mayor.
If objections to a proposed development are received, DBKL will hold a hearing in which the applicant and those objecting will be allowed to present their arguments, the officer said.
After the hearing, the matter will return to the OSC meeting where a decision on the development order is made.
The DAP’s Fong Kui Lun, the MP for Bukit Bintang where the project is located, said he has already put in his question in Parliament.
“This is one of the issues I will raise in Parliament,” he told The Malay Mail Online, stressing his concern that the heritage of the area surrounding the project may be affected.
“In Kuala Lumpur, there is a lack of historic places to remember the independence of Malaya... Actually, they want to build, they can build in other places,” he said.
Fong said several schools in the area may be affected, adding a social impact assessment was needed before the project is approved.
The two-week notice has also caught the attention of a lobby group that has been protesting against the project, the Pertahankan Taman Merdeka Negara (PTMN) coalition of 22 non-governmental organisations.
PTMN deputy chairman Datuk Thasleem Ibrahim on Wednesday said the group will discuss the proposed project with the site’s neighbouring lot owners.
“Today we will have a meeting... and all of them are invited,” he told The Malay Mail Online on Wednesday evening.
Thasleem said he would raise a few legal aspects of the project at the meeting, including the legality of the developer’s application to convert the land for commercial use.
Shortly after it was announced, Malaysians took to Facebook to express their opinions on the Warisan Merdeka project, with over 300,000 of them liking a group that is against the tower, while another group supporting garnered just slightly more than 2,000 “Likes”.
The government had announced the Warisan Merdeka project in October 2010, immediately sparking heated debate over the development in the city centre that will reportedly cost RM5 billion.
Government-linked firm Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) had said that the project will not be built using taxpayers’ money. It had formed PNB Merdeka Ventures to carry out the project.
The project ― which will include a 118-storey tower, a four-star hotel and two blocks of 40-storey condominiums ― will see Stadium Merdeka and Stadium Negara being kept as heritage sites. It will also be the tallest structure in the country once completed, eclipsing the iconic Petronas Twin Towers.
