Anil Netto, an Aliran member who is active in the Penang Forum, said the local plans for Kuala Lumpur and Penang Island were both drawn up in 2008 but had still not been gazetted, and were being further delayed.
The lack of a gazetted local plan was the cause of increasing conflicts between residents and local authorities about development of their neighbourhoods, he said.
Uncontrolled development had led to more high-rise developments being approved because the Penang Island Local Plan, approved by the Pakatan-led Penang Island City Council in 2008 was still not in force.
“Since 2008, permissible building densities in Penang Island have soared from 15 to 30 units per acre in many places to four times (128 units per acre), five times, perhaps even six times that figure (184 units per acre),” said Netto.
Penang has the second highest oversupply of property (16%) after Johor (18%), of the total overhang of 24,738 homes in the country, he said.
The situation in Penang, a Pakatan Harapan state, “is not much different from what is happening in the formerly Barisan Nasional-controlled Federal Territory”.
“In Penang, there are projects that have been approved where high density developments are being built in low density areas. If a gazetted local plan was implemented, none of these developments would have been allowed and the issue of overdevelopment would not be a concern to residents affected on Penang Island and in Kuala Lumpur, he said.
The Penang Island Local Plan which was approved by the city council in 2008 but not put up for public display until 2016, was now being reviewed and would be extended to 2030, he said.
The Draft KL City Plan 2020 was also launched in 2008, and supposed to be gazetted in 2012 but that was postponed and the plan was now being reviewed.
Recently residents of Taman Tun Dr Ismail protested against the development of part of Taman Rimba Bukit Kiara.
Another case involved land off Jalan Bangsar (Jalan Rumah Sakit) that was acquired by SP Setia Bhd in a land swap in return for building a replacement facility for the National Institute of Health (NIH) in the developer’s township in Setia Alam.
“What made the former administration allow the swap of the NIH prime land with a private developer?,” he said.
In March 2017, Seputeh MP Teresa Kok had warned that without the Draft Kuala Lumpur City Plan 2020 in place, City Hall would further mess up city planning and Kuala Lumpur would become the most unplanned and congested city in the world.
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2013/10/05/what-happened-to-the-penang-local-plan/
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2015/07/05/question-marks-over-penangs-ad-hoc-planning/