A FEDERAL minister is mulling halting future approvals for development applications in and around the Taman Persekutuan Bukit Kiara recreational park in Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI), Kuala Lumpur pending a judicial review.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Hannah Yeoh said she will consult the Kuala Lumpur mayor on the matter soon.
“The mayor and I have also taken note of residents’ suggestions to increase buffer zones for future projects near the park,” she said on Sunday (March 12).
Yeoh said the current guideline by the National Landscape Department requires a minimum buffer of 50m.
On residents urging for the buffer to be increased to between 300m and 500m to better safeguard the park, she said such requirements would force private landowners around the federal park to leave parts of their plots undeveloped.
She added that this presented Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) with a challenge of balancing its responsibility to the public with rights of landowners to develop their land.
“We need to consider implementing a sufficient buffer to preserve the park’s greenery and biodiversity.
“One option we are exploring is to get developers to move the denser components of their project away from the park’s edges,” she said.
Yeoh said this in response to the judicial review initiated by Friends of Bukit Kiara (FoBK), a local non-profit, seeking a stay order on DBKL from granting approvals to planned projects at the park, among other demands.
FoBK filed the judicial review in August last year to which the Kuala Lumpur High Court granted leave in September.
Yeoh was speaking at a town hall meeting by FoBK to voice concerns over a proposed development to build two 30-storey condominiums near the federal park.
The project, to be built on a 3.42ha site, is currently undergoing an environmental impact assessment for planning permission.
Elaborating, Yeoh said several reforms have been initiated at DBKL since she assumed the role of minister.
“A recent reform has allowed MPs to access information relating to planned projects in their constituency.
“This allows them to forward their concerns to the mayor, who must incorporate their views when deliberating on an application,” she said.
The said reform took effect in January involving DBKL’s One Stop Centre portal that allowed the public to check on development proposals in the capital.
