Desa Putra Condo residents' concerns fall on deaf 'ignorant' ears

LETTER | On Oct 26, 2018, residents of Desa Putra Condo and its surrounding neighbours were called to DBKL for a protest hearing. The protest was raised by residents against a 43-storey serviced apartment to be built adjacent to Desa Putra Condo on a mere 1.7 acres (0.69ha) of land. 

The development is championed by Quantum Golden Acres, a subsidiary of MCL Land (Malaysia). During the hearing, which was chaired by DBKL’s executive director of planning Mahadi Che Ngah and attended by Setiawangsa MP Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad as well as prominent lawyer and counsellor Derek Fernandez, various concerns were clearly articulated to DBKL via a presentation.

I distinctly recall Mahadi stating that DBKL will immediately look into the existing issues that the residents are facing, namely the rampant illegal parking, the flash mud floods occurring due to the various constructions underway, and the worsening traffic congestion on Jalan Mohd Yatim Yahya and Jalan Wangsa Perdana. 

As of today, we have received no word nor action from DBKL.

At the close of the hearing, Mahadi declared, and I quote, “this matter shall be resolved in writing within 14 working days. Please trust me, I have been working in DBKL since 1984.”

The fact that the executive director has been serving DBKL for more years than I’ve been alive should have reassured me that all would be in order. But this has proven not to be the case. Fourteen working days went by, followed by a year of silence. 

Finally, in a letter dated Nov 11, 2019, it stated that the development order for the construction had been approved, unconditionally and without amendments. 

The only concession to be given to residents is the requirement upon the developer of what DBKL calls a “communication strategy”. 

This strategy comprises of:

1. Putting up ads in two newspapers to advertise the development.
2. Hosting a meeting with residents to inform us of the benefits of the development to us.

This is pathetic.

The letter also stated that a Traffic Impact Assessment (TIA), which is a technical analysis of traffic problems and safety issues relating to a specific development, has been done. 

The fact that residents were not given access to the TIA shows that the arrogance of DBKL continues to live on in the era of Malaysia Baru. Hubris isn’t confined to just DBKL – the showroom for the development was ready way before the development order was passed.

None of our concerns have been looked into. It’s as if it has fallen on worse than deaf ears, but willfully ignorant ones. 

This is a showcase of DBKL’s failure into safeguarding the welfare of the citizens of Kuala Lumpur. It clearly demonstrates the lack of responsibility DBKL feels towards solving real, urgent and on-the-ground issues of KLites. 

Taxation without representation is one thing, but taxation without any sense of accountability to the taxpayers is a step too far.

We once again standby our stance – we are not against development, we are against overdevelopment with disregard to existing problems that needs to be solved.

The writer is the protest lead of Desa Putra Membantah which is supported by the Wangsa Maju Action Taskforce. 

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