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KL's MRT to 'eat up' famous Jln Tun Razak food island

The famous food island or "pulau" at the Jalan Tun Razak/Jalan Semarak intersection in Kuala Lumpur is making way for the second line of the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit System, that is the 59.5km Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya route.

Most of the food operators there told Bernama that they had received eviction notices since April to move out from the food colony, which has been there for more than four decades. They were supposed to have moved out by last Friday but are still in the process of clearing out.

They also claimed that they have been promised to be given a token of RM30,000 from MMC-Gamuda, the main contractor, and that the notice said that they will be relocated to new premises by Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL).

The owner of Wangi Optical House, Siti Hosna Hamsi, 50, said they had a dialogue session in September with MRT Corp, DBKL and the Kuala Lumpur Land and Mines Department

"They promised that they will compensate us before we moved out but until now nothing has been forthcoming," she said.

"We hope it (compensation) will be in "black-and-white" because we have been suffering losses since the eviction notices were issued," she said, adding that they had been asked to clear out at the latest by December.

Ten lots made of two buildings, which house offices, restaurants and motorcycle and car workshops, and eight empty lots there have to make way for an underground MRT tunnel along Jalan Tun razak and part of Jalan Semarak. The Kg Baru MRT station will be built nearby.

Jamilah Azemi, 31,who operates a stall selling hot Malay cuisine shared the same sentiments as the others.

"We have been doing business here for more than 40 years. DBKL has promised to relocate us but until now there has been no news," she said.

Strategically located at the Jalan Semarak-Jalan Tun Razak intersection, the 'island' is a popular haunt for office staff in the vicinity, including staff of the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama), whose headquarters is located just a few hundred metres away.

- Bernama

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