KUALA LUMPUR: Residents of Country Heights Damansara here are attempting to block a development approved by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to build two blocks of 41-storey condominiums, which they claimed to be an “arbitrary, illegal and irrational” decision.

“The initial plan was to build a clubhouse with a three-storey commercial strip that has a plot ratio of 1:1, dubbed SARA Waterfall Commercial Centre,” Teoh Seow Chiew, a member of the Country Heights Damansara Residents’ Association (CHDRA), told a press conference yesterday.

“Should the 700 condominium units be built, Country Heights Damansara will be turned into a high density area with an increased plot ratio of 1:6,” said Teoh.

He said this will drastically raise the congestion of traffic heading towards the entrance of Country Heights Damansara, which is along the Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong (LDP).

Segambut Member of Parliament Lim Lip Eng, who was present at the press conference to represent CHDRA, said there was no public consultation on the change of the original plan, with DBKL ignoring residents’ letters of objection sent over the last two years.

Several weeks ago, residents of Country Heights Damansara discovered that site work for the project had begun despite their objections.

It is understood that the developer of SARA Waterfall Commercial Centre is a privately-held firm known as Maryland Supreme Sdn Bhd.

There was also a separate attempt in 2012 to alter another development plan in an adjacent commercial plot in Country Heights Damansara for a 13-storey hostel, which was not approved by DBKL on the grounds that it clashes with the original plan.

Lim said he will bring up the matter to the Ministry of Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing, and to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission if necessary.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on December 3, 2014.