Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh speaks during a press conference at Parliament in Kuala Lumpur July 22, 2020. — Picture by Shafwan Zaidon
KUALA LUMPUR, June 20 — Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh has urged Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to immediately suspend the process of seeking public feedback for the proposed development of two blocks of Residensi Wilayah apartments in her constituency.
She said the suspension should last until Malaysia exits the movement control order (MCO) and its various guises such as the conditional movement control order (CMCO) and recovery movement control order (RMCO).
“In this total lockdown, the Perikatan Nasional government has significantly reduced their servicing hours in government offices, the people have been given delayed appointments for various counter services, businesses are ordered to shut, complementary health services are not allowed to operate.
“Yet it has seen fit to begin the process of seeking public feedback for such a massive development while residents are being locked in. For any meaningful participation of local communities, trust, sufficient information and fair opportunity to respond are basic requirements of a public engagement by the Local Authority,” Yeoh said in a statement.
She argued that this alleged act of making mischief while residents are physically hindered is disrespectful to ratepayers.
“In reference to my tweet (on June 16) and the response given by DBKL on June 18, the proposed affordable housing project development is seeking for a change to 1,000 occupants per acre.
“Pursuant to planning rules, surrounding land owners can submit their views concerning this application. DBKL responded by informing me that they had placed two advertisements in local newspapers from June 5 to June 8, and also erected a notice board at the site,” Yeoh said.
DBKL also said it will be inviting public feedback from surrounding landowners sometime tomorrow (June 21) but failed to name the applicant for this proposed development in their media response to her.
“The residents are very concerned about the threatening impact of such a significant change in their neighbourhood with no traffic and congestion solutions by DBKL in recent years.
“The nation has been placed under a total lockdown since June 1. As people cannot simply leave their homes, DBKL must not be pulling the rug from under our feet this way,” Yeoh said.