Refusal to gazette KL City Plan 2020 is shocking. KL will be further messed up and will become the most unplanned and congested city in the world
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Kuala Lumpur mayor Datuk Seri Mohd Amin Nordin Abd Aziz has said that DBKL is not going to gazette KL City Plan 2020 but it will draft a new blueprint for development of KL until 2050.
He said it would not “make sense” to gazette the original plan “as it is so close to 2020”.
He further said the current plan did not take into account land prices which had risen dramatically since the initial draft plan, and this had hampered economic growth.
“The holding cost of land is very high and we are trying to reduce the cost because developer land can be up to RM3, 000 per square foot in some areas,” he said.
I want to ask the mayor does it make sense to allow KL to go on without a plan in the interim. When will the new plan be ready? Why can’t the plan be gazzeted and be used as a continued guide until the new plan is ready?
I hope the mayor will remember that he is the city’s mayor and not developers’ mayor.
The KL City Plan 2020 was launched in May 2008 and it was supposed to be gazetted in 2009. The city plan received 62,224 feedbacks from 5,052 representatives.
This shows many city folks have given inputs to the formation of the KL City Plan 2020 in 2008 to 2009. There is no reason for DBKL and the Ministry of Federal Territory not to gazette it.
KL City Plan might not be perfect but the plan at least reflects the opinions and efforts of both government and the members of public. How can the government brush aside the joint efforts of both government and private sectors in building the city of Kuala Lumpur?
The reason of rise of land cost cited by the mayor is unconvincing and unacceptable. In fact, the failure to gazette the KL City Plan 2020 has contributed to the rise of land cost in KL in the past few years as developers have been allowed to carry out high density development.
At the moment, KL city folks are very upset with the massive development in many parts of KL. Many green areas and public utility lands have been taken away. There is more severe traffic congestion in the city because many high rise buildings are built in the areas which are already very congested. The residents of KL have been deprived of green places and public facilities.
Setting aside the KL City Plan 2020 is giving the government a free hand to mess up the city centre further and make KL the most unplanned city in the world.
The tax-payers of Kuala Lumpur should rise up to oppose the scrap of the KL City Plan 2020. They should demand that it be gazetted and used as continued guide until the new plan is ready.
Teresa Kok