KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 29 — The Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI) community has obtained permission from the High Court to pursue a judicial review against the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to build a high-rise high-density project that would allegedly eat into nearly half of the Taman Rimba Kiara park.
Spokesman for the residents Leon Koay said the court order was granted last Wednesday and that September 6 has been set for case management.
Among the requests made in the judicial review, Koay said, was to set aside the development order granted by DBKL to developer Memang Perkasa on July 13.
“All of us in the TTDI community look towards having the matter adjudicated speedily,” he told a press conference here today.
Among others, the proposed development, which is said to take up 47.5 per cent of the existing footprint of the park, involves the construction of eight blocks serviced apartments and 350 units of affordable housing for the current residents of the longhouses in the area.
Koay said seeking legal channel to solve the matter was not part of the community's plan.
He claimed that it had to be done after the authorities refused to meet representatives despite repeated calls from the community.
Another representative of the group, Boo Su-Lyn said she had asked Federal Territory Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor for a townhall meeting with the residents months ago but the latter is yet to give them one.
“Despite his promises to meet us, it has not happened until today,” she said.
Residents from TTDI who have been against the project, have many times raised concerns that the RM3 billion project would be at the expense of the last green lungs in the federal capital.
The development is also opposed because the residents believe it will add to the population density from 74 people for every 0.4 hectare to 979 people in the same area.
In May, Tengku Adnan had said that the project must carry on despite the opposition encountered.
He said the project was necessary to safeguard the interest of estate workers who currently live in the longhouses.
The new developments will see at least 8,000 to 10,000 new residents in the area.
TTDI’s original infrastructure was built for 5,000 to 6,000 houses and 20,000 to 25,000 residents.
Today, even without the proposed developments, the infrastructure is struggling to cope with a population of 35,000 to 40,000.
The serviced apartments project was announced in June last year by City Hall.
The proposed highway, however, is not included in the original plan and was discovered by the residents while filing their objections with City Hall in August 2016.
The residents claimed they were left in the dark ever since and only knew about latest developments through news reports and public observation.
Koay today reiterated that affordable housing for the longhouse residents can be addressed through an alternative housing design that would also be much cheaper in cost.
“In our design, it would be able to accommodate all 100 families in comfortable townhouses within the existing 4.4 acre footprint of the current longhouses.
“The construction cost of the design is approximately RM15 million as opposed to the RM3 billion mega project,” he said.
