Taman Melawati residents slam cancellation of park for convention centre

KUALA LUMPUR: Residents in Taman Melawati are protesting a decision to build a convention centre on land earlier designated for a public park.

They claimed that the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) made a U-turn on the public park after the Selangor government instructed that the land be developed into a convention centre.

They said MPAJ cancelled the proposed 3.37-acre park without notifying them. The proposed MPAJ Convention Centre is meant for the residents to hold weddings, meetings, conventions and other events.

The residents claimed they were not allowed to object to the construction of the convention centre.

“We only found out that the development of the park had been cancelled through a tender notice for building the convention centre that was published in Utusan Malaysia on May 18,” Taman Melawati Residents’ Association (TMRA) Zone ABC chairman Razman Hakimi Abdullah said.

Bidding for the tender was from May 19 to June 9, 2017.

Razman said upon sighting the tender notice, the association called for a meeting with MPAJ on May 24 to seek clarification.

“During the meeting, the Yang Dipertua (Abdul Hamid Hussain) told us that residents cannot object to the building of the convention centre and that it was a state project under Mentri Besar Azmin Ali,” Razman told reporters on Saturday.

The land now has the service centre for Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, who is Gombak MP and Bukit Antarabangsa assemblyman, and a futsal court.

The residents claimed that they were also told by MPAJ that there would not be any public hearing for the construction of the convention centre.

In exchange for building the centre, MPAJ would build the park on a smaller site about 1km away.

Residents said they had been promised the park since five years ago when Sime Darby Property agreed to build the park next to Melawati Mall as part of its Taman Melawati redevelopment plan which saw the construction of the mall and several high-rise residential buildings.

Razman said the authorities should not make changes to the masterplan for Taman Melawati.

“We suggest that MPAJ retain the park and move the convention centre to the new location. You add another convention centre here and you will add to the traffic that we are already facing every day,” he said.

“The nearby Land Surveyors Board building has space for weddings that is underutilised and if a new convention centre is needed it can be housed in the 10-storey Melawati Mall,” Razman added.

One of the residents, Sean Chiang, 38, said the community needs a green lung and not another convention centre.

“There are already so many buildings and developments around us, if you take away this one and only park that we have, what other green space do we have left,” said Chiang.

According to MPAJ’s letter to the residents sighted by The Star, the convention centre will be able to accommodate about 1,000 people.

Construction is scheduled to start at the end of this year and would take two years to complete.

In a race against time to save the park, the residents launched a Change.org petition to convince MPAJ and Azmin to reconsider the plan to build the convention centre.

Over 2,500 people have signed the petition since it was launched on Thursday.

The residents plan to send the petition to Azmin, Hulu Kelang assemblyman Saari Sungib and MPAJ with the hope the issue would be raised at the state assembly.

“We are also mulling to file a judicial review but we hope we do not need to resort to that,” Razman added.