Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) officials say that approval for the construction of the controversial Bangsar Seafood Village on residential land is expected to stay despite vehement protest from Bangsar Baru residents.

"However we will make sure that the the project will not go beyond three to five years as stated in the development order. Now it is just a matter of ensuring that the business complies with the requirements imposed on it," said DBKL deputy director general for services Amin Nordin Abdul Aziz.

He said this at a dialogue with Bangsar Baru residents hosted by Pantai MP Shahrizat Abdul Jalil on Tuesday, in which he also agreed with the request that City Hall would conduct proper resident consultation for future large scale projects.

"I really hope DBKL will take this issue seriously. When there are development projects in the future, please consult the people first. Their wishes must be heeded," Shahrizat said.

She pointed out that the main grouse in Bangsar Baru is that development projects are being approved without due consideration of residents' views.

"Residents have told me that development at the current rate is expected to result in about 5,000 cars flooding Bangsar daily. The question is, are we slowly easing out the residents?" the Women and Family Affairs Minister said.

Clash over 'consultation'

However, when approached later on whether DBKL failed to fulfill the requisite resident consultation as outlined under the Kuala Lumpur Local Plan, Amin insisted that the authorities had met the requirement.

He claimed that residents were issued letters requesting them to respond to the project proposal.

But a decision was finally made in favour of Eng Lian, the company behind Bangsar Seafood Village, because it had persistently applied for a permit for four years, apparently because there was nowhere else for it to be relocated, Amin said.

"They have been applying since 1999. We only gave approval for the project in 2003. In between, we rejected their application three times. The application was approved because Bangsar Seafood Village needed to move out of their present premises," he said.

But residents who spoke to malaysiakini early this year would disagree with DBKL's notion of a consultation.

They said their opposition was made known in writing prior to development work on the land, and appeal letters were re-sent to Mayor Mohmad Shaid Mohd Taufek after the project was approved without their consent.

Keep to three years

Amin however stressed that DBKL will ensure that operators of Bangsar Seafood Village, and the eight pavilions adjoining the project, will abide by strict rules on parking spaces, buffer zones, and operational hours - as measure to minimise disruption on residents' lives.

He added that in view of residents' opposition, the size of the project had already been scaled down - a point the mayor made to the press in March this year.

The RM6 million Bangsar Seafood Village complex, which comprises a two-and-a-half storey structure and nine two-storey pavilions, will be sited on a piece of residential land that was awarded a temporary permit by DBKL to be used for commercial purpose.

Amin said the commercial permit, which requires annual renewal, is expected to be used between three and five years.

However, Shahrizat said she hopes DBKL will revert the land back for residential use within three years, not five.

"We will be pressuring them," she said.

'No evidence of scaling down'

But it looked as though residents remained unhappy with this supposed 'middle-ground' brokered between Shahrizat and DBKL.

One resident who spoke up during the dialogue pointed out the inconsistencies between the authorities' claim - that the temporary land re-designation was made to accommodate Bangsar Seafood Village alone - and the size of the actual project - which would include nine other blocks of two-storey pavilions.

And despite a 'scaling down' of the project size, the main structure to for the seafood restaurant was increased from two storeys to two-and-a-half storeys after a brief construction hiatus, he said.

He also pointed that Shahrizat herself had, as part of her 2004 general election promise, told residents that commercial development in Bangsar would not be made at their expense.

This, he believes, has failed to materialise.

"I hope she would be able to uphold the wishes and basic rights that was promised to Bangsar residents. Please repair the damage that's being done," the resident said.