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Dramatic adjournment of PJ local plan hearing
The Star 18/11/2005

THE hearing for the amendment to the Petaling Jaya Local Plan 1 (RTPJ1) was called off yesterday with the Petaling Jaya Municipal Council (MPPJ) having to lodge a police report.

Selangor state exco member Datuk Mohd Mokhtar Dahlan, who co-chaired the hearing, agreed to call it off when it was raised that two sets of the draft plan were in circulation although MPPJ only recognised one of them.

The officially recognised copy sought to change the minimum land space for service apartments reduced from two acres to one acre while the other copy listed that minimum land space would remain at two acres.

Section 5 RA legal advisor Derek Fernandez, who discovered the discrepancy when comparing notes with Keadilan vice-president Sivarasa Rasiah, said the meeting could not go on because residents who were under the assumption that there had been no change would be deprived of the opportunity to object at the hearing.

“MPPJ should lodge a police report because there are two sets of official documents being circulated to the public,” said Fernandez.

Prior to pointing out the discrepancy, Fernandez also pointed out that proper procedure was not followed in presenting the draft for the hearing as residents were not consulted before the drawing up of the draft plan as required under Section 12(a) of the Town Planning Act 1976 (Act 172).

In view of this and the discrepancy in the draft plans, Sivarasa called for the council to restart the whole process and consult residents to draw up a new draft plan.

“Follow Section 12(a) and tell us who wants these amendments and the impact assessment of such changes,” said Sivarasa. Mokhtar Dahlan agreed and said MPPJ would start anew.

However, when asked after the meeting if the documents were now deemed void, he said they were still valid.

“MPPJ will investigate this and we will get to the root of the issue. The documents are still valid,” said Mokhtar Dahlan.

Asked to comment on Mokhtar’s statement, Fernandez said the whole process was now void and illegal and that the process must be started afresh if they wished to
proceed.

“They must call residents for pre-consultation before drawing up a fresh draft. Then they must advertise in the papers that the draft is available for inspection.

“Then residents must submit their objections within the time period and then they can hold a fresh hearing to hear the objections,” he added.

On whether there would be another showcase for the public to look at the draft plans, Selangor Department of Town and Country Planning director Datin Paduka Dr Halimaton Saadiah Hashim said that was not a legal requirement.

“What is required is a notice,” said Halimaton, who advised residents to always check the newspapers for such announcements.

Mokhtar Dahlan, Halimaton and Petaling district officer Mazalan Md Noor chaired the meeting. Also present during the meeting were Bukit Gasing assemblyman Datuk Dr Lim Thuang Seng, Kampung Tunku assemblyman Datuk Dr Wong Sai Hou and MPPJ deputy president Zulkifli Ahmad.

Those present for the objection were representatives from Section 5A, Rukun Tetangga (RT) Section 1 & 2, Section 8 Residents Association (RA), Section 14 RA, RT Taman Petaling and Gasing Indah, Frasers Tower Owners Association, Cameron Towers Residents Association, Maxwell Tower Owners Association, Gasing Indah KL RA, Gasing Indah PJ RA, Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, SJK(C) Damansara, Section 17A RA, DAP and Parti Keadilan Rakyat.

The meeting was supposed to start at 9.30am but was delayed for an hour as Mokhtar Dahlan arrived 30 minutes late and needed another 30 minutes to be briefed.

Victor Oorjitham ended the meeting by asking if the meetings could be held on time in the future. Oorjitham said he was a councillor from 1970 to 1975 and meetings were always on time then.

 

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