Happy Garden and Continental Park Residents Association is making a final push to safeguard the future of the 60-year-old wet market at Batu 4½, Jalan Kelang Lama, Kuala Lumpur.
Association secretary Evelyne Low said the 60-year-old market on Lot 53683 was left out of the Kuala Lumpur Local Plan 2040 (KLLP2040) list of public facilities.
Instead, the lot has been earmarked for commercial use, despite repeated appeals from traders and residents to preserve it.
With a 1:5 plot ratio under its Commercial Category C zone, Low said the site was primed for redevelopment, especially with the proposed MRT3 route running through the area.
“Jalan Kelang Lama is heavily developed and suffers from traffic congestion.
“Another high-density commercial project will place greater pressure on the roads and surrounding neighbourhoods,” she said.
The association’s appeal follows Kuala Lumpur mayor Datuk Seri Fadlun Mak Ujud’s call in June for stakeholders to submit Letters of Intent (LOI) proposing amendments to KLLP2040.
The exercise allows landowners, developers and residents to request DBKL to reconsider designated land use, development density or zoning of specific sites.
However, submitting an LOI does not guarantee approval.
The extension of the original deadline from July 10 to today, has given community groups more time to revive earlier proposals, correct omissions and challenge contentious designations.
The extension has given Save Vivekananda Ashram Brickfields Group (SVAB) a “golden opportunity” in its decade-long campaign to protect the 125-year-old building.
Formed in 2014 to oppose a proposed 23-storey condominium at the heritage site, SVAB wants the surrounding land to be rezoned from commercial to public facilities.
Its earlier proposal, backed by 850 people, was not incorporated when KLLP2040 was gazetted on May 28, 2025.
SVAB chairman S. Raja Singham said the group would submit a fresh LOI.
“We hope the community’s concerns will finally get the consideration it deserves,” he said.
Save Kuala Lumpur (SKL), meanwhile, is opposing a proposal for a five-storey building along Jalan Maarof, between the Jalan Penaga and Jalan Tualang intersection in Bangsar.
SKL chairman Datuk M. Ali said some residential units had been built up to between six and eight storeys despite a three-storey limit.
“The local plan must not be used to legitimise an apparent planning breach,” he said.
KLLP2040, which came into force on June 11, 2025, is the statutory blueprint governing land use, development intensity and planning controls in Kuala Lumpur.
