Thursday last week, I went the whole afternoon to look for new land to relocate the cemetery that is currently right beside Saujana Puchong residences. This work is a follow-up of when I supported the residents of Saujana Puchong to protest against the cemetery being created right besides their homes, and on Ayer Hitam forest reserve land at that, back in March 2008, and the new Pakatan state government’s decision to relocate the cemetery to a more suitable site earlier this year.
Once the cemetery is relocated, the residents will no longer have to live with the discomfort of a cemetery and burial activities next to their homes.
And most of all, Ayer Hitam can be restored back into being the nature reserve that it was meant to be before the former state government suddenly converted into cemetery land. I have already started work on planning the creation of a Taman Rekreasi Rimba Ayer Hitam together with planners, Jabatan Perancangan, MPSJ and Universiti Putra Malaysia.
Back to my recce. The man in the middle is Jaafar Mohd Atan, the director of Jabatan Perancangan Bandar dan Desa. Behind us, just behind the overgrowth is the existing cemetery. And less than 30 feet from where we are standing is the housing area. We are studying the site map for our next location.
Alternative site number 1.
Alternative site number 2. Not very good because of of the marshiness of the earth.
Alternative site number 3. We think we have found our winner. This is piece of land is located in Sepang District, not far from where the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT Terminal) at KLIA. It belongs to Sime Darby. There is currently a small cemetery on it as you can see from the picture above. And there is a road right beside it already. We agreed is the best location to relocate the cemetery and will begin work on acquiring the land.