KL city plan: Angry retiree demands RM150 refund

Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) took a verbal beating from a furious retiree at a briefing session today on the KL Draft City Plan 2020 (KLDCP).

Bukit Jalil resident Chin Choong Men, 61, took the opportunity during the question-and-answer session to demand a refund for the ‘faulty’ plan which he had bought when it was launched on May 15.

Chin, who paid RM150 for the two-volume draft plan, complained that there are mistakes in it. He pointed out that SJK (T) Ladang Bukit Jalil school and the detention camp are not included in the plan.

“I was very angry when I came to this meeting. I brought the entire document and I want to return it to DBKL. I want my money back,” he said.

“I don’t need this document when I can get all the information from the Internet. Besides, the maps in this book are extremely user-unfriendly.”

The 2.5-hour briefing, conducted by lead consultant Norliza Hashim, was held for the public, parliamentarians, resident associations and community representatives.

Several members of residents associations lambasted DBKL about various policies including licensing of hawkers, public transportation and use of electricity.

The KLDCP entitled 'Kuala Lumpur - A World Class City', sets out a 13-year guide for decision makers, city planners, designers and builders on the direction of growth for the city.

However, civil society groups have said the plan breaches provisions of the KL Structure Plan of 1984 as well as the National Physical Plan.

Since its launch, interest groups have launched criticisms ranging from transportation woes to safety and environmental issues.

The bilingual report is also said to be user-unfriendly because of the use of technical jargon and inclusion of complicated graphs and charts.

Hidden agenda?

Pakatan Rakyat parliamentarians present at the briefing took turns to raise issues that concerned their respective constituencies.

Wangsa Maju MP Wee Choo Keong quizzed DBKL on its reluctance to release Volume Three of the draft plan.

“Why are we discussing all this when the third volume is not given to the public or the MPs? Why is there a hidden agenda? How can we discuss the draft plan in full if a volume is missing?” he asked.

“This is a serious matter. If DBKL does not make the report public to all residents of KL, I can assure you there will be a court action in due course.”

A DBKL official who declined to be named said Volume Three explains the development guide plans on how to execute the development control plans in Volume Two.

“The development guide plans provide details on how to build and plan different areas. It is not being released to the public because it is an administrative document,” the official said.

“The draft plan is still subject to amendment and the guide plans in Volume Three will also be amended accordingly. We want people to understand the land use in Volume Two first because that is important.”

However, the official could not confirm whether Volume Three will be released to the public.

DBKL Master Plan department director Zainab Mohd Ghazali, who has been organising the public lectures, said comments related to the draft city plan are and will continue to be welcomed.

“There are some flaws in the plan because there are 187,000 lots (in KL) and we cannot address each and every problem raised in each lot,” she said.

“I think we have given everybody a fair chance to speak about this. Those who have views that can improve the plans, please record them with us.

“We hope the opportunity given to us here is taken objectively and positively. Let’s work together and not antagonise each other.”

The public lecture is one in a series of sessions held at the DBKL headquarters to explain the draft plan to the people. It is scheduled to end next week.