TTDI residents ask PM to stop Taman Rimba Kiara development

A notice board stating the relocation of the existing entrance is erected at the entrance of Taman Rimba Kiara.

TAMAN Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI) residents fear that the felling of trees at the upper portion of Taman Rimba Kiara marks the beginning of the destruction of the pristine park.

On Tuesday, they were outraged to learn that trees were transported to the lower section of the park.

According to a Save Taman Rimba Kiara Group spokesman, residents were alerted about the incident through social media channels.

“We discovered that some trees had been uprooted or felled.

“I spoke to the supervisor on-site, and he said they were uprooting the trees from the upper section and transplanting them to the lower section of the park.

“It appears that the tree clearing will continue and this is just the start of the destruction of the park,” he told StarMetro in a phone interview.

TTDI Residents Association chairman Abdul Hafiz Abu Bakar said residents were dismayed over DBKL’s actions in allowing the project to proceed, despite repeated outpour of public objections and appeals.

“This created a negative perceptions of DBKL among the people.

“We now realise we cannot rely on local authorities to promote our well-being.

“We seek the attention and help of the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to immediately halt the destruction of Taman Rimba Kiara for the benefit of the Malaysian people for generations to come,” he said in a statement.

Hafiz added that there was a pending judicial review application at the Kuala Lumpur High Court which sought to affirm the legality of the Development Order issued by DBKL for the proposed project at Taman Rimba Kiara.

Case management has been fixed for April 18.

A notice board was put up along Jalan Mohd Fuad, where the existing entrance of the park is located, to inform the public of the relocation of the entrance.

According to the notice board accompanied with a map, the existing entrance will be closed on March 19 until an alternative entrance at Lorong Wan Kadir is opened to public.

Another notice board informing the public on the construction of a block of 30-storey apartment was also erected at the site.

Previously, TTDI residents protested the proposed housing development featuring eight blocks of between 42- and 54-storey high-end serviced apartments.

The development also included a 29-storey block comprising 350 affordable housing units for the relocation of TTDI longhouse folk.

The residents then filed a judicial review application with the High Court to quash the conditional planning permission and a development order granted by Kuala Lumpur City Hall earlier last year.

Several parties then submitted applications to intervene in the judicial review, which caused the case hearing to be postponed.

The application for the stay order was denied by the court in December last year.

Parties involved in the case have about six weeks to exchange affidavits before the case management on April 18, when the date of the case hearing is expected to be set.