The council plans to degazette part of the forest for different land use and development under the MBSA Local Plan Draft 2035.
Residents in the area, however, are not happy and have asked the Selangor government to preserve the forest area for the benefit of the surrounding community.
Among the development the residents are up in arms about are a township, a road that will run through the forest, and a cemetery.
Today’s hearing was held at Wisma MBSA and although it was touted as a “public hearing”, council officers said it was not open for media coverage.
MBSA city councillor Pappa Raidu Veraman explained that only those with invitation letters and attendance forms were allowed to enter for the hearing.
“According to the MBSA planning officers, this is not a final hearing and nothing has been concluded. There will be another session for that,” he told reporters.
However, when residents attempted to assist the media by proposing they enter as “representatives” for those who were not present, MBSA officers allowed it on condition the session was not reported.
MBSA also told reporters to surrender their recording devices.
The SACF Society, an NGO dedicated to the conservation of the forest, and Pertubuhan Pelindungan Khazanah Alam Malaysia (PEKA) are proposing that the forest be gazetted as a “community managed” forest reserve.
Some 52.6ha of the forest land are said to be owned by the state, while another 109.2ha are owned by Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Selangor (PKNS).
Alicia Teoh, who founded the SACF Society with other residents, said the forest was an important recreational area and held ecological and educational significance.
The group has sent two letters to Selangor menteri besar Amirudin Shari, pushing for a stop-work order for any development in the area. The most recent letter was sent on Dec 26.
The group also claims to have sent half a dozen letters to various politicians over the last two years, including former state exco for tourism, nature, green technology and consumerism Elizabeth Wong and Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad.