SHOUTS of anger were heard as Section 17 residents and traders stood up to leave a dialogue after the developer of a condominium project in Jalan SS17/29 failed to give them what they wanted.
The dialogue was aimed at addressing the residents’ concerns and to hear what they had to say about the project.
“There is still no black and white information given and everything is being pushed between the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) and the developer,” said Section 17 morning market chairman Low Chun Foo.
Aside from the mixed development project, the developer is working with MBPJ to build a new market building to house the Section 17 morning and night market.
This new market will be located in Jalan 17/27, the original spot where the four-decade-old market used to be.
Now, 128 morning traders and 27 night hawkers have been temporarily moved to Jalan 17/29 until the new market is completed.
“We have not even seen the finalised building plans for the market, even though we have been asking for it,” Low said.
Low added that their many trips to the council had drawn a blank as the officers would always tell them that discussions were still being carried out.
Traders want to see the plans to ensure their objections and suggestions are taken into consideration before the construction is completed.
“Once structures are built and the plans finalised, it will be hard to make any more changes,” he said.
The contractor replied that it did not have the building plans yet, and whatever they had was with the city council.
The new market is scheduled for completion at the end of next year, while the serviced apartments will take three years to complete.
Adding to their frustration, the traders saw a drop in business ever since the relocation due to traffic congestion in the area.
There are not enough parking spaces and the narrow roads do not help during morning and evening peak hours.
“We used to have more than 200 parking spaces but now it is just street parking,” Low said.
Also, they currently do not have proper electricity supply and the water supply was only connected in February, costing the traders about RM700 per month.
All these issues went unanswered during the dialogue as only the contractor, engineer and architect for the project were present.
Meanwhile, residents were also riled up over several other issues such as vibration and cracks in their properties as well as work being carried out after permitted hours.
“We also want something done about the traffic congestion in our area and for them to reopen Jalan 17/27, which was closed to facilitate the construction.
“How can they just close a public road?” asked residents’ representative Adrian Nathaniel.
The developer maintains that the road is not a public road and was only a road reserve that had been gazetted by the council for the market.
“If the residents are unhappy, the matter should be taken up with the council and not us,” said a representative of the developer who declined to be named.
The dialogue grew increasingly heated when he briefed the residents on a proposed traffic management plan that would see Jalan 17/44 and Jalan 17/38 turned into one-way streets.
This was met by shouts of protest, with residents loudly claiming that the city council had never sought their feedback for the plan.
PJ Utara Barisan Nasional chairman Tan Gim Tuan, who was also present, said he would help residents and traders.
“We will have to check through all the procedures on how the approval was given to start construction.
“Then we will address the issues one by one,” he said.
When approached, both developer and contractor said they were not in a position to speak to the media.
