Public Hearing on Development in MPSJ

2:30 pm - MPSJ
Thursday, November 13, 2008


There was a public hearing on the proposal by TOPSPEED to develop the piece of land on the playground in USJ 11/3. This time, they came back with another proposal to develop the land into a Kindergarten and a Food Court. About 20 residents went for the meeting while TOPSPEED was represented by about 8 of their officials, including their boss.

It was presided by the Timbalan YDP and assisted by a few MPSJ officials. Two of our MPSJ councilors, Mr. Chia and Encik Kamal as well as YB Hannah Yeoh were also present in the hearing.

The Timbalan YDP started by giving some background to the hearing and what we had to observed as to the rules of the hearing. He wanted only a representative from each side to speak.

TOPSPEED then started by presenting their plans on their 'new' proposal. They revealed their plans on Food Court cum Kindergarten which was to be housed in a 2 ½ storey building with an underground car park for 42 cars.

However, there were no other details given such as the numbers of stalls, their size, types or how many or how big the classes were being planned for.

They only stated that the kindergarten was built for about 150 students and will only operate for a single session and that is in the morning. They also stated that there will be about 30 teachers at any one time. As for the food court, the stalls will not be sold but will be rented out to business operators.

It looked like a poorly drawn plan. There were more questions than answers at the end of their presentation. And towards the end, when the Timbalan YDP wanted to ask the resident’s side to speak, the boss of TOPSPEED interjected.

He argued that he should be allowed to build the 2 ½ storey semi-D houses as the approval for it was already granted previously. And that if his plan to go ahead with the commercial development is allowed, then it will not be viable as our G&G is already in force and that the G&G will have to be torn down.

The boss of TOPSPEED also said that our G&G does not meet the requirements of the law. To this point, the Timbalan YDP then told him that the meeting was to talk specifically about the 2 ½ storey Kindergarten cum Food Court which they were presenting and nothing else as the session that was being held had nothing to do with G&G or for that matter the 2 ½ storey semi-D that he had brought up.

Then it was the resident’s turn to speak. Encik Shahrul was the representative elected to speak on behalf of the residents. He spoke about the collective objection from more than 90% of the residents in the area. He pointed out that the land should be kept as a green lung which is also the wish of the majority of residents staying in the area.

He gave accounts of what has happened in the past and how the objection was raised even way back in 2004 and that there were many protests in the past about the development, even under the previous owner, Tetuan L.S. Teng.

He also pointed out the unhygienic condition that would prevail should the Food Court be allowed, the traffic congestion in the area and the security in our area which will be compromised. It would attract all sorts of negative elements and bring about a lower quality of life in our area. He also mentioned the fact that there are already an oversupply of food outlets in our area.

After his presentation, the councilors pointed out that no matter what the situation, with the kindergarten, it will be inevitable that the area will be congested as parents will be dropping their children almost at the same time when the kindergarten session starts and ends.

YB Hannah Yeoh pointed out that with 42 planned car parks, it will not be sufficient as there are already 30 teachers and as such the cars parks will mostly be occupied.

These were the apparent problems that were pointed out that may arise if the proposal to develop into a Kindergarten cum Food Court is given the green light.

The Timbalan YDP then concluded the meeting by pointing out to TOPSPEED to be more prepared the next time, as they were wasting a lot of people’s time due to the inadequacy of information towards their plan.

He also pointed out that it will be discussed in the OSC meeting (which is held every two weeks) to see if this plan can be approved. He also pointed out that it will be a long process should the state government acquired back the land and hand it back to MPSJ to be kept as a green lung. He then thanked everyone for attending the meeting and it was then adjourned.

The decision to build the Food Court cum Kindergarten will now be in the hands of the OSC meeting. If it is approved, the Resident’s Association will take it to the Appeals Board (Lembaga Rayuan) at the State Government level. Likewise, the developer will also be given the same right if it is rejected. But for now, it will just remain as is, a fenced up green lung!