Anwar said he has asked Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to update him on the progress of the plan’s implementation in two weeks.

“Otherwise, decisions (related to the plan’s implementation) would be postponed until next year because of the holidays in December,” he said at the official launch of KLSP2040 today.

KLSP2040, which will guide the development of Kuala Lumpur over the next 20 years, was approved on Oct 4, and the gazette was published on Oct 19.

Anwar, who is also the finance minister, said any delays in the KLSP2040 implementation would impact the public as well as investor confidence.

He also said that while the approval process for projects was more efficient, there was room for improvement.

“I still find it unsatisfactory because why can’t Malaysia, with all its sophisticated machinery and infrastructure, achieve an 80% project implementation rate?” he said.

KLSP2040 is the third plan to replace the 2020 Kuala Lumpur Structure Plan, which was published in 2004.

Last week, Anwar’s political secretary, Azman Abidin, told a press conference there were more than 1,000 objections from various NGOs regarding KLSP2040 and the government had included some of the recommendations in the final plan.

However, Anwar did not elaborate on the number or details of the objections incorporated into the final plan.

“Most of the objections were related to land, where some were unhappy with (the prospect of) having apartments (constructed) beside their residences,” he said.

Previously, the NGO Save Kuala Lumpur urged Anwar not to “prematurely” approve the KLSP2040 without it going through due process.

The group then claimed DBKL did not address feedback and objections submitted by many resident groups.