91 KL housing sites ripe for urban renewal, bumi quotas in place

Summary

• 91 housing sites in KL have been identified with potential for redevelopment.

• FT minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa says that original owners will be compensated with new units.

• She adds that bumiputera ownership quotas for public-private partnership projects will be 70 percent, and as high as 40 percent for private projects.

PARLIAMENT | The government has identified 91 housing sites in Kuala Lumpur that are ripe to be redeveloped for either public or private housing.

De facto Federal Territories Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa said if redeveloped, the original owners will be granted new units, while bumiputera quotas are also in place for new units.

In a written parliamentary reply released last week, Zaliha said the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) had set the bumiputera quota for government and private-public partnership projects at 70 percent.

The quota for fully private projects is 40 percent if it is a Malay-majority area. This can be lowered to 30 percent for non-Malay majority areas, she said.

The 91 housing sites were among 139 sites with redevelopment potential identified in the Draft Kuala Lumpur Local Plan 2040 and the Kuala Lumpur Structure Plan 2040.

The remaining 48 sites encompass various use cases, including business and industrial, institutions, community facilities, infrastructure and utilities, transportation, and mixed development.

Zaliha was responding to a query from Shahidan Kassim (PN-Arau), who wanted a breakdown of sites with redevelopment potential, as well as whether 70 percent of such land would be allocated to bumiputera, citing national demographics.

‘Ousting poor Malays’

The response comes amid a pushback from Perikatan Nasional against an upcoming law on urban renewal.

The Urban Renewal Bill would propose legislation that lowers the consent threshold required to redevelop housing projects, among others.

PN politicians have made various allegations against the Bill, including that it was an effort to oust poor Malays and Indians out of urban areas.

PAS Youth deputy chief Hafez Sabri, meanwhile, alleged that without bumiputera quotas, any additional housing units created in new developments would be bought out by non-bumiputera.

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