“I’m never leaving. I will leave for heaven from this house,” she said when met by FMT, with her son, Dr Suresh Kanagalingam, 55, by her side.
Ratnasothy is one of several residents at Jalan Abdullah, Bangsar, who have been protesting against a proposed 32-storey apartment project on three plots of land. Her house, built in 1939, is right next to one of the plots.
Jalan Abdullah houses some of the oldest remaining residential properties in Bangsar. Comprising mostly bungalows and semi-detached houses, most of the properties were built between 1929 and 1940.
In early 2019, residents found out that under the Kuala Lumpur City Plan 2020, the area had been gazetted from “residential” to “major commercial”.
In February last year, residents and the Save KL Coalition (SKL) held a press conference stating their opposition to the project. They claimed that they had not been consulted before it was even proposed.
While there were few updates from Kuala Lumpur City Council (DBKL) on the matter, Ratnasothy recently received a letter from the developer informing her that it had received approval to go ahead with the development.
In the letter dated March 3, the developer also asked her to consider leasing her house to them to serve as the project site’s office throughout the construction period. It added that she could temporarily relocate with the rental for the premise.
Nonetheless, the octogenarian is adamant – she is not budging.
Ratnasothy is puzzled as to why DBKL, which had rejected proposals to build 13-storey and eight-storey residential projects more than 15 years ago, would approve the 32-storey development now.
“It’s not right. They can build a bungalow or something, but not 32 stories,” she said.
She raised concerns over how such a big development would impact the houses nearby, fearing that cracks would appear when piling work began as these homes had been around for so long.
She said the roads there were already heavily congested and that a high-density development would make it worse.
Suresh said that despite Jalan Abdullah being converted to a commercial area, building a 32-storey structure did not seem right as the plot ratio would still be more than what had been gazetted.
FMT has been made to understand that the residents, developers, service providers and Save KL Coalition will be meeting today at Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil’s office.
T Ksharmini, another resident, said the area suffered from low water pressure, even causing problems for the Fire and Rescue Department when it tried to put out three fires in the past.
Ksharmini, who has represented the residents in working with SKL, told FMT that there was also a natural waterway in the area, with previous developments causing retention walls to collapse in the past.
She said residents had talked about taking legal action but were yet to officially take it up.
“We’re hoping to get a copy of the development order before the meeting on Saturday (today), then we can know the terms and all that,” she said, adding that Fahmi had been helpful to the residents’ cause.
SKL chairman M Ali told FMT the project was highly questionable as Jalan Abdullah was a “very fragile and delicate” area, adding that proceeding with the development would undoubtedly affect the community.
He stressed that approval for any development should only be given if the infrastructure was commensurate with the size of the project.
“We are asking the mayor to visit the site and meet the residents to tell them how he’s going to resolve these issues. But zero (response). Where the development is concerned, they haven’t gotten back to us.”
FMT has reached out to KL mayor Mahadi Che Ngah and the developer for confirmation that the development order was issued, as well as Fahmi for comment.