PETALING JAYA (Oct 2): The Desa Putra Resident Association (RA) is angry and dismayed over Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur's (DBKL) Planning Department Director Nurazizi Mokhtar’s claim that there is no need for residents to be given the documents related to the proposed 46-storey high rise project that will be built less than 10 meters away from the condominium in a statement today.

The Desa Putra Condominium management committee chairman Abu Bakar Ariffin said this action is a “blatant failure of transparency, a sign of non-engagement and disregard for due process and arrogant indifference to the needs of tax-paying Kuala Lumpur residents”.

Among the documents requested by the RA include the Development Impact Assesment (DIA), Traffic Impact Assessment (TIA) and the Social Impact Assessment (SIA), meant for residents to assess and comprehend the implications of the proposed development.

“We need to understand the impact of the proposed development so that we can raise a fact-based and objective objection during our public hearing. How does Nurazizi expect us to object on a case where we are denied full information? What use is the hearing then – it will be nothing but a farce,” he said.  

Abu Bakar questioned Nurazizi’s statement that the proposed development should come as “no surprise” to the residents as the developer must have shown residents the future building plans, and requested that he show the residents what law states that the developer is obliged to fully disclose future plans to buyers of their development.

“We find his statement highly illogical as we doubt even the developer themselves, who bought the land more than a decade ago, knew what they were going to do with that land back when they bought it. His statement also shows that DBKL has a blatant disregard for the changes in an area’s density and does not take into consideration current conditions in approving any development proposal. The population density which is already high coupled with traffic congestion and illegal parking issues at and around Desa Putra Condo is being ignored in totality,” Abu Bakar added.

To recap, members of the Desa Putra RA have expressed concerns over the aggressive development surrounding their homes last month, worrying that high-density development will impact their living environment.

Located at Jalan Wangsa Perdana 3 in Wangsa Maju, right opposite the Sri Rampai LRT station, Desa Putra condominium comprises 436 units across three 18 and 19-storey blocks.

Already surrounded by a few high density developments including the 42-storey The Hamilton Wangsa Maju development (435 units) which is just 300m from Desa Putra Condominium and the Wangsa 9 Residency which is located around 700m away – comprising 565 units housed in three 48-storey blocks – concerns were raised when another new development comprising 382 units of serviced apartment in a 46-storey block was announced via a project development notice board put up on Aug 18 by DBKL.

The management committee then approached DBKL for assessment reports on the environmental, traffic and societal impacts of the project as well as to fix a date for the RA representatives to meet with DBKL officers to voice their concerns, which include rampant illegal parking that have contributed to congestion in the area.

However, Nurazizi said there was no need to furnish residents with such reports.

“Worse still, this statement from DBKL is a clear slap in the face of our Setiawangsa MP Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, who had called for the relevant assessments and reports to be released.

“Is it not enough to insult us? Does our elected representative have to be insulted by you as well? Nurazizi is also side-stepping the issue of the change in land use from residential to commercial. On what basis should the land change be approved and what is the impact to residents with this change? We once again state our stance – we are not against development, we are against overdevelopment with disregard to existing problems that needs to be solved.

“We stand by and applaud the statement made by Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad made on Aug 19 that DBKL must release assessment reports to ensure transparency in development approvals. And we are against servants of the public treating the public as if we have no rights. Do not imagine that you will be able to suppress all our voices as we are driven for the love of our home, the great city of Kuala Lumpur,” he concluded.