Two more contentious buildings unearthed in Kuala Lumpur

.The Kompleks Tun Abdul Ghafar Baba is a community hall meant for the people in Seputeh. The YES foundation has rented it out to a furniture company.

KUALA LUMPUR: Two more contentious buildings were built on government land in Kuala Lumpur between 2016 and 2017.

Federal Territories Minister Khalid Abdul Samad revealed that Kompleks Tun Abdul Ghafar Baba in Jalan Kuchai Jaya 1 and Dewan Shazac Bistari, Kompleks Yayasan Wangsa Perdana, in Jalan Gombak were built without the knowledge of Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur Lands and Mines Office (PTG), similar to the case in  Medan Imbi.

“Both plots of land measure 0.32ha each, and were designation for public use. The land was most probably surrendered by the developer of the area for public use such as a park.

“Kompleks Tun Abdul Ghafar Baba is a hall. There are political party flags displayed there as well. Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) issued the development order (DO) on April 25, 2017.

“Dewan Shazac Bistari is also a hall and the two-storey building has no approval from any agency,” he said.

Khalid was calling for the owner of the buildings to contact PTG, DBKL and the ministry to suggest a solution by the end of February.

“We will report to the Malaysian Anti-corruption Commission (MACC) after Chinese New Year.

“Our negotiations will not absolve the building owners of their wrongdoing or MACC’s investigation.

“The building and land owner has to be the same. It  is either the building owner buys the land or PTG confiscates the building. Any building without a DO can be confiscated and demolished, but the one with the DO is complicated,” he said.

Khalid said an internal investigation would be conducted to determine how the buildings were allowed to be built.

“Some of the officers involved have retired or resigned, but there also some who are still working.

“It is very clear that many things were not right ( in the previous administration),” he said.