Sunday, June 1, 2008

Maps of Bukit Kiara and Bukit Batu Tabur



Maps of Bukit Kiara and Bukit Batu Tabor (Melawati) showing residential areas planned within the Hill Land (Tanah Bukit - marked with red diagonal stripes) area.

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Environmental Protection Zone Not Protected


The Draft KL City Plan 2020 has defined 10 Environmental Protection Zone (EPZ) in KL which includes Bukit Gasing & Bukit Dinding (Wangsa Maju) where "additional control and guide with regards to protecting the environment is imposed and specified on development and use of land". (you can see the full list & definition here). Whilst this is a welcome move especially for KL folks starved of green environment, the land use outlined in the plan for EPZ somehow contradicts the purpose of setting of the EPZ in the first place.

As you can see in the Bukit Dinding map above (figure 4.6 in the KL City Plan 2020 Vol 2 Part 1), there are areas designated as Residential 1 & 3 within the EPZ categories of Hill Land and Hillside. (Hill Land is defined as areas above 200m in Bukit Dinding and Hillside as areas from foothill to 200m, see definition here). This clearly contradicts the list of allowed activities in the Hill Land area which explicitly forbids any urban development in the area (see 4.4 here).

This does not appear to be an oversight by DBKL as other EPZ areas such as Bukit Kiara and Bukit Batu Tabur (near Desa Melawati) also has designated Residential areas within the Hill Land zones.

The Star has reported that the consultancy firm AJM Planners is the main consultant company engaged by the DBKL to produce both the Structure and Draft plans for the city. One of the director is a Dato' Esa Mohammed, will be the chairman of the hearing panel set up by DBKL to hear KL folks objections on the Plan.

So what can KL folks do. Apparently according to Dato' Esa this Plan is still a draft subject to approval after hearing the publics view, so you should register your objection at the KLCP2020 website here. Submit your opinion and get your opinion number, if you state that you wish to attend the hearing, they will schedule a time for you to state your objection to the hearing panel.

By the way at the moment (1pm June 1st 2008) the website only displays 2 opinions only, all the opinions made before have disappeared!