Selamatkan Kuala Lumpur (SKL) deputy chairman M Ali told FMT his delegation urged Khalid to ensure that his ministry would not engage the same parties responsible for drafting KLCP 2020, which has become controversial since it was disclosed that 273 projects in the city had already violated it and that it had been gazetted without adequate consultation with stakeholders.
Ali said his group told the minister there was a need to ensure due process in the making of future plans for the city and that this meant engagement with residents’ associations and other stakeholders.
“The ministry must acknowledge the need to engage with stakeholders well in advance of the preparation for the Kuala Lumpur Structural Plan 2040 and the Draft Kuala Lumpur City Plan 2040,” he added.
He said other NGOs besides SKL had also proposed the use of planners who are not KL-based, arguing that this would prevent conflict of interest.
“If they were to engage KL-based city planners, there could be a possibility of their having vested interests,” he said.
“Look at what happened with the 2020 plan. We don’t want a similar episode to occur with the 2040 plan.
“We told the minister to consider that. He said he would look into it.”
Ali also said a Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) representative had told his group that city authorities had begun meeting with the Malaysian Institute of Planners, the Malaysian Institute of Architects and other professional bodies as part of initial preparations for the 2040 plan.
According to Khalid, he added, the objective was to have the 2040 plan drafted by 2020.
“But we highlighted the need for concerned organisations to be invited for consultation right at the start of the planning,” he said.
He also said SKL asked Khalid’s ministry to set up an independent committee to study the violations against the 2020 plan because there was concern over the accuracy of the information given, especially if it came from DBKL officers.
“They could be revealing only what they want to reveal,” he said. “After all, they were the ones who did not want to gazette the plan back then.” He was referring to a period before Pakatan Harapan came to power.
A recent news report quoted planning and local government expert Derek Fernandez as saying that many of the violations were in substance illegal development orders passed because the previous administration refused to gazette the 2008 version of the 2020 plan.