Residents stand firm on Taman Rimba Kiara project

KUALA LUMPUR: Taman Tun Dr Ismail and Bukit Kiara longhouse residents are maintaining they will never agree to a scaled-down version of the Taman Rimba Kiara development project, says Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister, Hannah Yeoh.

Yeoh said residents would agree only if the project continues within the 1.8-ha of the current longhouse footprint, or be cancelled.

“We have been reasonable and have proposed a clear resolution to the Government,” Yeoh, who is also Segambut MP, said at a gathering at the TTDI community centre to deliver updates on the issue.

Yeoh said she has written to Malaysian Anti-Corruption Com­mission chief commissioner, Latheefa Koya, to discuss the issue as Khalid’s predecessor, Datuk Seri Adnan Tengku Mansor, is alleged to have abused his power in approving the project.

“I hope MACC will look into all the reports lodged, including the latest one by the Taman Tun Dr Ismail Resident’s Association last week,” she said.

The disputed development project was first cast into the spotlight in April 2017 when City Hall issued a development order for a project on a 4.9ha plot within the 10.1ha Taman Rimba Kiara.

The project initially involved building 350 units of affordable housing for longhouse residents in Bukit Kiara and eight blocks of luxury condominiums, which would be known as Pavillion Taman Tun.

Federal Territories Minister Khalid Abdul Samad had proposed for the project to be scaled down to avoid the Government from paying about RM150mil to the developers if it was cancelled.

In Khalid’s scaled-down version, only four blocks of luxury condominiums would be built within a 3.2ha plot, which would also include housing for longhouse residents.

Yeoh insists that if the project were to continue, it must not go beyond the current longhouse footprint, nor encroach on the Taman Rimba Kiara area.