Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said the proposed relocation of the Sri Mariamman temple from Section 19 to Section 23 in Shah Alam would go ahead as planned, despite Umno’s attempts at filing an injunction.

khalid ibrahim pc 120809 01 He said he was willing to have a "town hall meeting" with residents of Section 19, Section 23, temple management committee and also the state planning director to explain the action.

Last Sunday, about 200 Muslim residents in Section 23 gathered to protest the relocation of the temple at a 0.2 hectare site situated about 160 metres from their houses.

The residents had questioned the logic of building a temple in the area as there were only 40 percent Indians as compared to 60 percent Malays.

Hillslope development guidelines by year-end

Khalid also said that the Selangor government has drawn up guidelines for hillslope development for implementation by year-end.

He said the guidelines covered projects on slopes that had a gradient of 25̊ and above, technically referred to as Class 3 and Class 4 slopes.

From the state government's perspective, he said the guidelines made up the final draft, adding that interested parties like The Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association (Rehda), professionals, architects and civil engineers were invited to have a discussion on the draft of the guidelines.

"We are also willing to provide the report (draft of the guidelines) to the participants for their feedback before they are implemented," Khalid told reporters after chairing the weekly state executive council (exco) meeting at the State Secretariat building near here.

Prior to this, the state government had put a cap on applications for new development projects on hillslopes in Selangor.

State Executive Councillor for Housing, Building Management and Squatters Iskandar Abdul Samad said a seminar to discuss the draft of the guidelines would be held in a month's time to get feedback from interested parties.

- Bernama