Last week, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) released a report detailing how 97 parcels of land were sold since 2011 by Kuala Lumpur City Hall without adhering to standard operating procedures.
The land disposal process (up until 2015) according to PAC chairman Wong Kah Woh, was not only too lax but invited abuse of power.
The PAC also revealed that the Kuala Lumpur City Plan 2020 (gazetted in 2018) was different from that displayed to the public in 2008.
For perspective, the gazetted plan was neither the 2008 draft local plan nor the 2013 revised plan but a “2015 version”.
Veteran town planner Datuk P. Gunasilan had previously told Twentytwo13 the “2015” plan is a combination of the revised plan of 2013 with addendum of all the deviations to the earlier draft.
When the draft plan was put up for display in 2008, it invited a lot of objections and suggestions from KLites. Hearings, inquiries and panel discussions were held for over two years before the plan was finally approved to be gazetted in 2013.
The fact is, the “2015 version” that was gazetted in 2018 did not undergo such processes and procedures and the gazette, according to Gunasilan, would appear to have contravened the provisions of the Federal Territory Planning Act 1982.
City Hall town planners, as Gunasilan mentioned, had most likely updated the draft local plan by including changes on the instructions of the former Federal Territories Minister.
Here’s a flashback.
In February 2017, former Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said he did not plan to gazette the Kuala Lumpur City Plan as it would be open to abuse.
However, the non-gazettement of the plan for a long period led to a series of infringements, including change in land status, unwarranted development and increase in plot ratio and density over the years.
And this was exactly the findings of the PAC.
Those in power, be it Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Harapan, had ignored the voices of the people, preferring to adopt the “government knows best” approach in dealing with grouses on these “land grabs”.
Despite its earlier promise of transparency and accountability, the previous Federal Territories Minister, Khalid Samad of Pakatan Harapan, failed big time when he decided to gazette a flawed city plan.
Rather than addressing the elephant in the room, the findings of the PAC (including the role played by Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan in land transactions) has transcended into a blame game between the government and the opposition.
The role of the PAC inter alia is to scrutinise the government’s expenses and follow up on public audits. In general, it is meant to protect public interest.
But does the PAC report really matter when land meant for green lungs, open spaces and other community facilities had been sold to developers for highrise projects.
It should be put on record that the matter at hand is not just a war by the “powerless” residents of Kuala Lumpur.
Town planners, the legal fraternity, developers and even the Real Estate Housing Development Association must speak up and voice their discontent over how development in Kuala Lumpur has deviated in the last decade.
As a developer, it is pointless talking behind backs if someone else had profited in millions over a piece of land that you surrendered to City Hall thinking it was meant to be a green space.
Will newly appointed Kuala Lumpur Mayor Datuk Mahadi Che Ngah, who is privy to how these land matters were previously handled, clear the air to ensure the people’s trust in City Hall does not erode further?
How many are willing to speak up against malpractices in the name of transparency and greater good?
In a world where profit and the need to not offend take precedence, I suppose the answer is blowing in the wind.
