SOME residents are calling on Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) to organise a comprehensive town hall session to clarify the recently launched Petaling Jaya Draft Local Plan 2035 (Replacement).
While MBPJ has opened the floor for public feedback, stakeholders argue that the current display and briefing format was insufficient for meaningful public participation.
The publicity and public participation programme, which started on Dec 15 and will run until Feb 16, allows residents to view the draft plan at the MBPJ headquarters lobby in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, on weekdays, from 8.30am to 5.30pm.
However, some claim the complexity of the documents and the timing of the sessions pose significant barriers.
Section 12 resident David Foo said the technical draft plan was difficult for the average citizen to interpret.
He urged MBPJ to move beyond static displays and instead conduct interactive town hall sessions.
“Not every resident will know how to read the draft plan.
“MBPJ must conduct a town hall session to explain it to stakeholders,” said Foo.
He added that timing was a critical factor for inclusivity.
“The town hall must be held on weekends, when more residents are available to attend,” said Foo.
“MBPJ should allocate about four hours or half a day for one session, as people will want to ask a lot of questions and seek clarification.”
Section 17 resident Tracy Toh said she had difficulty understanding the draft plan downloaded from MBPJ’s website, which was filled with charts and maps.
“Briefings and town halls should be made mandatory to explain the proposed changes to stakeholders,” she said.
“Councillors should also notify residents, residents’ associations and Rukun Tetangga groups of these briefings.”
Toh said those living within a 2km radius of any proposed development should be individually informed by mail of the project details, including environmental, traffic and social impact assessments.
“They should receive physical objection forms, with an option to respond online,” said Toh.
“Objections should be transparently handled and the city council should publicly inform what types of objections were received,” she said.
The way the draft plan is shared has also come under fire, especially on MBPJ’s social media platform.
Penny Chan said without a side-by-side comparison of the original city plan with the draft plan, identifying changes is nearly impossible.
“Unless you have the first city plan to see what changes are happening, you cannot even see the original compared to the proposed changes,” Chan stated.
Petaling Jaya mayor Datuk Mohamad Zahri Samingon recently announced that MBPJ was making efforts to facilitate the feedback process by providing objection forms and details on the draft plan both at the headquarters and on the city council website.
“There are plans to organise briefings on the draft plan for residents,” he said, adding that the city council has so far received some 80 objection forms.
