PETALING JAYA: Residents of Continental Heights Condominium and Taman Gembira near Old Klang Road, who have appealed to the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to stop the construction of a new road, have been told to submit a more robust petition.
In the meantime, DBKL said, work on the road will continue. Even if they managed to get the road project stopped, the residents will not get their green lung back.
In its place, they could get a small park with a jogging track.
The residents had cited landslide concerns, expected traffic congestion, noise pollution and the devaluation of the area if construction of the new access road is allowed to proceed.
The road is being built to service the recently completed 737 Residensi Gembira condominium.
Following a meeting with DBKL and Seputeh MP Teresa Kok today, the representative for the Continental Heights Condominium Residents’ Association, Yeo Heng Foo, said they were told to submit a petition signed by 80% of house owners from both areas.
Their initial submission had included the signatures of 96 residents of Continental Heights Condominium.
To achieve the 80% target, the residents will need signatures from just over 140 Continental Heights Condominium units and about 90 houses in Taman Gembira.
If the required number of signatures are collected, Yeo said, DBKL had told them it would “consider stopping construction”, but it was unlikely the site would be restored to its former condition.
Tamil Wanan, the representative for the Taman Gembira residents, said it was proposed at the meeting that the land be turned into a recreational space with small gardens and a walking track.
He said Kok had told the residents to seriously consider their opposition to the construction of the road, which would provide spillover parking for residents of 737 Residensi Gembira, who would otherwise need to find parking space in the surrounding area.
“But, in my view, the road would only cater to 20 to 30 cars. I suspect there will be 300 cars that need space, so it still won’t be enough to accommodate them all,” Tamil said.
“Letting the road continue means we’ll have a busy main road running through our neighbourhood and we would still have cars parked in the area. Instead of solving one problem, it creates two.”
He supported the proposal for a small recreational area.
Yeo hopes to collect the additional signatures by the end of the week, while Tamil said he would convene a meeting of the residents on New Year’s Day to seek a consensus.