Dbkl Must Not Withhold Truth About Land Sales

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Since 2005, the SJK (Tamil) Jalan Cheras, initially set up to cater for the children of staff at the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), has been applying for a piece of vacant land in the vicinity to be used for sports activities.
The vacant land diagonally opposite Sunway Velocity, measuring just 0.36ha, was sufficient for the school to build more classrooms and provide a playing field.
A series of letters listing the school’s needs were exchanged between the school, the Education Ministry, and DBKL.
According to one of the many letters and annexures this writer was provided, a site plan provided in 2005 indicated that the land was marked for a 15-storey office building and later for a workshop and a health clinic-cum-vaccination centre.
ADSHowever, the school continued to send letters and appeals to the ministry to intervene on its behalf.
On March 12, 2015, it appeared that the school’s efforts had ended. In an internal memo signed by Syed Azry Syed Zubir of DBKL’s Town Planning Unit and copied to the school, the land was identified as the site for a new workshop, a health clinic-cum-vaccination centre.
On April 8, 2015 - barely 30 days later, the school received a letter signed by DBKL’s director of Economic Planning and Building Management stating that their application could not be considered because the site had been sold to a developer.
But was the land sold? Never. Did DBKL withhold the truth? It appears so.
Conflict of interest
According to a search at the Land Office last week, DBKL is still the owner, and there were no encumbrances on the title. With DBKL as the landowner and the approving authority, is this not a conflict of interest?
What caused the change? Why was there an about-turn? It became public eight months later - a developer had entered a joint venture to build apartment units.
In December 2015, Warisan Tradisi Sdn Bhd, then a subsidiary of the Brunsfield Group, announced its intention to build a 26-storey block that houses 160 studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments, some of which are dual-key units.
Brunsfield’s general manager of sales and marketing, Felix Ng Tiam Chai, told The Edge Property that “the development is just a 10-minute walk to the two upcoming MRT stations (Cochrane and Maluri) and is accessible via major roads such as Jalan Cheras, Jalan Loke Yew, and Jalan Pudu.”
The report also stated that the proximity of the project, called “The Locus”, to downtown Kuala Lumpur has allowed for a design that maximises city centre views while mitigating exposure to the sun on its east-west axis.
Thereafter, nothing happened, and the land was left idle. In 2018, the school wrote to the Kuala Lumpur Mayor, Amin Nordin Abdul Aziz, for the temporary use of the land until construction started.
That letter went from his office to DBKL’s Valuation and Property Management Department, which sent it to the Economic Planning Department.
ADSNothing happened.
Surprises and shocks
After a seven-year lull, in February this year, the school’s Parent-Teacher Association was alerted to new developments on the land and requested to be updated.
A briefing was held by DBKL, and the school was informed of the impending variations.
At the project’s launch in February, “The Locus” was renamed “The Skies”. There were several other surprises and shocks.
Under revised plans, a 42-storey building will tower over the school. The ownership of the developer, Warisan Tradisi, had changed hands.
It was no longer under the Brunsfied umbrella but had become a subsidiary of the Australia-based Shayher Group. Its group director, Ahmad Nazri Zaini, said that the project offers low-density living in the heart of the city centre.
He said: “We provide lifestyle facilities, such as a sky pool on the rooftop at Level 41 and a sky gymnasium on Level 40.”
How did the height of the buildings keep escalating from 15 storeys in 2003 to 26 storeys in 2015 and 42 storeys this year on the same plot of land - about 3,623.2 sq m?
How did land earmarked for a new workshop and health clinic end up in a joint venture, primarily when it was known to DBKL that the original clinic land was in jeopardy with Perano Development Sdn Bhd, a member of the Jakel Group, putting a caveat?
A notice directing patients to Pudu Ulu for treatment, where a clinic for DBKL employees and typhoid jabs will start operations.The land-use endorsements on both plots stipulate that the land can only be used for workshops, clinics, and related activities. The changes are telling indeed.
Deafening silence
Did DBKL break its own rules in using land meant for a workshop and clinic for commercial purposes?
Would a change in height mean a change in the density and plot ratio? Would a fresh study on traffic management and additional infrastructure be needed? Should these have been presented for public scrutiny?
Was DBKL, as a partner in the joint venture and approving authority, made aware of Warisan Tradisi’s change in ownership?
Since DBKL usually does not respond to queries, I raised this, among other questions, in an email to the Shayher Group on Tuesday.
I also asked if the plan was revised upward after Shayher acquired Warisan Tradisi.
Like DBKL’s silence, Shayher has yet to respond.
More importantly, the land on which DBKL’s workshop and garage sit, as well as other plots of land nearby, have been earmarked for sale.
Let us not repeat “private sales” as practised in the past. Forget the joint ventures, where agreements are classified as secret, and returns are paltry.
Tan Kok Wai, MP for the area, who attended DBKL’s briefing, claimed that since the agreement terms were confidential, construction costs could usually escalate.
Direct-negotiation tenders should end. DBKL and other government agencies should sell government assets through an auction or open tender. - Mkini
R NADESWARAN is a veteran journalist who tries to live up to the ethos of civil rights leader John Lewis: “When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something.” Comments: [email protected]
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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