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- Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:54:15 +0800
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The Star
16 June 2008
Who will the mayor opt for?
VALLEY VIEW:BY BAVANI M
KUALA Lumpur City Hall Advisory Board members get RM600 each time they
attend a board meeting. Although the sum may be paltry, there is much
jostling to be appointed a member. And, the reason lies beyond the
payment ? it is the opportunities that come with the position.
It is no secret that some members of the board use their position to
influence decisions on the awarding of contracts and to get approval
for business licences. There are even one or two who feel there is
nothing wrong in exerting their influence to obtain approval from the
board for projects carried out by their family members, friends or
cronies.
Whether such things continue remains to be seen, but the new board
members must remember that KL-ites are now demanding transparency and
accountability for each and every decision made by the board.
Hakim: The mayor is said to be in no rush to appoint the new advisory
board members.
City folks have become more outspoken, as evident from the harsh
criticism towards the Draft Kuala Lumpur City Plan 2020 recently.
They are demanding to know which company is behind a project in
sensitive areas such as hillsides or green lungs and whether the
process and approvals are in order.
This brings us to the question of whether the new board members take a
serious approach in solving the problems faced by the people
The tenure of nine advisory board members expired on May 31, which
means Kuala Lumpur mayor Datuk Abdul Hakim Borhan has to choose new
members or renew the terms of the incumbents.
The board comprises 15 members, with six currently serving their first
term (each term is two years).
According to the Federal Capital Act 1960, the City Hall advisory
board must have 15 members with one member each from the Federal
Territories Ministry, the Finance Ministry and the Economic Planning
Unit of the Prime Minister's Department, and two members nominated by
the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Selangor government.
The remaining 10 members must be individuals with knowledge on local
government issues, or hold a degree in a certain profession, commerce
or industry, or have the expertise to represent the needs and
interests of their communities.
According to a DBKL source, the mayor had not made up his mind and
seemed to be in no rush to do so.
Indeed, after the brouhaha with the Public Opinion Hearing Committee
(POHC) for the Draft Kuala Lumpur City Plan 2020, one can understand
why the mayor is being extra cautious this time around.
?He is trying his best to be sensitive to the needs of the residents,
especially after the POHC issue,? said a DBKL director who wished to
remain anonymous.
Also, the Pakatan Rakyat MPs had demanded that DBKL appoint them to
its advisory board.
Their argument was that since the Opposition had won 10 of the 11
seatsit was only logical that they be appointed as members of the
board. . But, the DBKL has chosen to remain silent on this.
?This is pretend democracy,? said an irate city denizen. ?If the MPs
(Pakatan Rakyat) are not allowed to sit on the board, then the DBKL
should consider having elected councillors comprising professionals
and people from NGOs instead of political appointees.?
Former Segambut MP Datuk Dr Tan Kee Kwong once said:?The board is like
a toothless tiger ? it is redundant and outdated.?
A resident of Damabsara, who was opposing a development project in his
neighbourhood last year ? and probably still is ? said that he did not
even know who the advisory board members were and even tagged them
?useless?.
Harsh words indeed ? but to say that they (members) did not do their
job would be unfair as there were members who worked diligently with
the community to solve problems like housing, traffic, garbage and
flood in their respective areas.
Yet there are also those who have done very little for society and
whose names are hardly recognisable to the community.
Part of the role of an advisory member is to be the eyes and ears of
their community, very much like what Kepong Community Service Centre
head Yee Poh Ping and Seputeh Barisan Nasional Information head Banie
Chin are doing for their respective areas.
City folks need to know who their community representatives are and
that they can call upon their help at all times; that they are not
just out there for personal glory and gain.
Former member Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye once said that board members should
not be blamed for not doing enough because they only held advisory
positions.Lee, who is holds the record of being the longest-serving
member of the board ? 16 years to be exact ? said that members did not
have executive powers and hence could only advise and suggest to the
mayor as per Sec 6 (1) of the Federal Capital Act 1960, which stated
that the duty of advisory board members was to advise the mayor on
matters relating to administration of Kuala Lumpur City.
Perhaps that is true, but in troubled times like now, when the city is
reeling from the escalating cost of living, following the fuel price
increase, over-development and congestion, Hakim needs all the help
and advice he can get.
One can only hope that when making the decision, our honourable mayor
is able to show he is willing to embrace the democratic spirit by
giving more say to the ratepayers of this city in the decisions made
by the DBKL.
+++++++++++++++
KL City Plan may be challenged in court
Stories by YIP YOKE TENG
The Coalition to Save Kuala Lumpur may eventually challenge the
legality of the draft Kuala Lumpur City Plan 2020 in court as more
residents associations and NGOs are convinced that it is fundamentally
flawed.
Objection against the draft plan 2020 grows more intense with more
parties recognising that it has failed to conform to the policies of
low density in the National Physical Plan, National Urbanisation Plan
and Kuala Lumpur Structure Plan 2020.
However, the coalition will seek intervention from the Prime
Minis-ter, the Cabinet and parliamentarians before heading to court.
Concerned ones: Panel of speakers at the KL Green Lung seminar
organised by Malaysian Nature Society, (from left) Malaysian Nature
Society executive director Dr Loh Chi Leong, Sri Bukit Persekutuan
representative Charles Tan, Bukit Kiara representative Dr Pola Singh,
MNS vice-president Datuk Dr Hashim Abdul Wahab, Bukit Sungai Puteh
representative Dr Anne Munro-Kua and Bukit Gasing Joint Action
Committee member Gary Yeoh.
The Malaysian Nature Society became the latest NGO to recognise the
non-compliance in the aspects of low development intensity and green
lung conservation.
The society, following the conclusion of the KL Green Lung seminar it
organised on June 14 at Rimba Ilmu building in Universiti Malaya, is
submitting a report to the Federal Territories Ministry and the Kuala
Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to show its stand.
The report would also point out the need to strengthen existing laws
to prohibit the de-gazetting of forest reserves as past experiences
showed that green lung encroachments started with the local authority
doing that without public knowledge.
An e-forum would be formed to bring together people wanting to save
green lungs and to save Kuala Lumpur from becoming an all-choked-up
city, while expanding the network of the Coalition to Save Kuala
Lumpur.
?The gazetted open spaces, recreational and sports facilities in KL in
2000 accounts for 6.52% of the total KL land use,? said the society?s
vice-president, Datuk Dr Hashim Abdul Wahab, who is also the
organising chairman.
?However, if we were to add in the unused green areas or ungazetted
land, the figure would increase up to 36% ? this will be most suitable
towards reaching a world-class city status,? he added.
The seminar was attended by residents? representatives and was
received warmly.
It was learnt that the DBKL was invited to the seminar and had
confirmed attendance but pulled out a day before.
Meanwhile, the coalition has prepared a letter to alert the Prime
Minister and his Cabinet about the draft KL City Plan 2020?s violation
of the policies in the three plans.
It was penned by the alliance?s head Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman
and supported by all 22 organisations under the coalition.
?If necessary, the coalition, through the MPs, would seek to move a
motion in parliament or to order a commission of inquiry into the
planning of Kuala Lumpur to see if there was abuse of power,? said the
coalition?s legal adviser Derek Fernandez.
The attendees opposed the draft plan?s intention to increase the
city?s population by 600,000 in 12 years, calling that ?a self-imposed
criteria?, as it would only worsen the already serious problems of
traffic, flooding, pollution and cost escalation.
They felt that the direction was fundamentally flawed as the National
Physical Plan and National Urbanisation Plan had spelled out that
developments should be spread across the identified conurbations,
which should cover Seremban, Putrajaya and parts of Selangor in the
case of the KL conurbation, to reach the ideal density of 25 people
per hectare.
?Although the density in KL has exceeded that, we want the average
density for the whole conurbation to be 25 people per hectare.
?KL is fully saturated, its density has to be reduced, it should not
absorb the 600,000 people as the government's intention is for them to
be spread across the conurbation,? he said.
He added that the National Physical Planning Council had set a target
of open space coverage of 2ha per 1,000 people for KL as compared with
merely 0.36ha now.
The open space coverage per 1,000 people for major cities are London
(4ha), Melbourne (2ha), New York (2ha) and Toronto (2ha).
Fernandez also emphasised that DBKL officials should not use
?pre-approved development? to justify their leniency towards
developers as Section 24 of the Federal Territory Planning Act 1982
clearly stated that all Development Orders expire in one year.
Attendees expressed their frustration resulting from DBKL?s manner in
dealing with their objections towards hillside developments, citing
?the push-around treatment, officials? false statements, empty
promises and utter arrogance?.
They reckoned that new paradigms should be adopted to deal with the
authorities, hence the need to further inculcate awareness and
encourage involvement through ICT, as well as to be green voters. It
was also unanimously agreed that an elected local government would be
the remedy for many of the problems.
+++++++++++
Plan introduces baffling new term ? private open space
The term ?private open space? introduced in the draft Kuala Lumpur
City Plan 2020 had experts, residents and environmentalists scratching
their heads at the KL Green Lung seminar organised by the Malaysian
Nature Society on Saturday at Rimba Ilmu, Universiti Malaya.
A table in the draft plan indicates that the city aspires to increase
the ratio of public parks and open space to population (sq m per
person) from the current 7 to 11, which is almost double.
The area required to achieve this target is 2,418ha but the total land
allocated for public parks in 2020 is 1,882ha (at present 1,543ha).
So, where does the rest of the open space come from?
According to Malaysian Nature Society executive director Dr Loh Chi
Leong, the answer he received from the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL)
and the draft plan?s consultants in a recent briefing was that the
rest would be ?private open space?.
?They said developers would in the future be required to set aside 30%
of their development area as open space.
?However, we wonder how is that going to be implemented as these
so-called private open space will be private areas, which are not
obliged to be open to the public,? he said.
Moreover, the ratio of 11 was still far from the National Physical
Plan?s target of 20, he added.
Dr Loh also pointed out that even though the draft plan had listed out
the environmental protection zones, there were still more open space
in the city, such as those in Hartamas and Damansara, that ought to be
protected.
He added that despite the technical complexity of the draft plan, it
did not show clearly how much of the remaining 36% open space and
unused green areas in the city had been earmarked for development.
?Even though it does not show how much land will be touched
eventually, encroachment into Bukit Gasing is already a clear sign to
this,? he said.
Residents from affected areas were invited to share their experiences
of seeing green lungs raped by unsustainable development.
Bukit Gasing
Surprisingly, the part of Bukit Gasing earmarked for 68 bungalow lots
has been named ?Gasing Indah? in the draft plan, said Bukit Gasing
Joint Action Committee member Gary Yeoh.
?On top of that, even though it is said clearly in the draft plan that
areas above 100m of Bukit Gasing would be protected, the planned
development will in fact cut through the hill?s peak at 135m,? he
said.
More worryingly, the planned development is just next to a 23mil litre
capacity reservoir that supplies water to Petaling Jaya and Shah Alam.
The hill?s soil combination of sandstone and shale has been confirmed
by academicians as not fit for development and a landslide ocurred
last year just at the doorsteps of the Sivan Temple, but all these
have not stopped developers from eyeing its lucrative returns.
Federal Hill
To the shock of residents, the stretch of Federal Hill earmarked for
the much-opposed development has been changed from an institutional
land to commercial.
The piece of ?commercial land? will house a police station.
?It is the first time we are hearing of a commercial police station,?
said Sri Bukit Perse-kutuan representative Charles Tan.
Bukit Kiara
Despite having been gazetted as forest reserve, Bukit Kiara has not
been spared from damage with some parties chopping down trees and
clearing land to create a 25km-long horse trail, said speaker Dr Pola
Singh.
Under maintained water points for horses are becoming
mosquito-breeding grounds, not to mention a string of consequences of
the horse trail such as soil erosion and muddy land surface.
Bukit Sungai Putih
The ?death? of Bukit Sungai Putih in Cheras started with the local
council secretly de-gazetting the forest reserve that was gazetted in
the 1930s.
Speaker Dr Anne Munro-Kua said the residents found out about the
?crime? the hard way when a jogger spotted land-clearing and was
beaten up by the workers.
Strong protests over 12 years, including lodging complaints with the
Anti-Corruption Agency, could not stop the local council from granting
approvals to unscrupulous developers.
http://thestar.com.my
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