Jakel Strikes Gold With Velodrome Land

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The Cheras Velodrome in Kuala Lumpur has a chequered past. It is where Rio Olympics bronze medallist Azizulhasni Awang started his cycling career.
Built 40 years ago, it continuously bred cycling icons like Rosman Alwi (who competed at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics), followed by M Kumaresan (who competed in the 1988 and 1992 Olympics) and Rizal Tisin (2008 Olympics).
But in March 2017, it closed its doors to be demolished and supposedly to make way for commercial development by the landowner, the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL).
But unknown to many, DBKL had already sold the land two years earlier, in 2014, to an associate company of the Jakel Group for RM133.49 million in a private deal for which no tenders were called.
ADSIn 2015, Jakel Development announced that it was planning an integrated development comprising commercial, residential, and retail components, a stone’s throw from the J Dupion project.
This development will feature a shopping mall, apartments, hotels, and office space on the velodrome land, known as Dupion Island.
“We are planning to build a covered walkway to connect the J Dupion project with the MRT station, which will also be linked to the Dupion Island project,” said Jakel Trading chief operating officer Nizam Jakel.
Over the years, nothing happened. These days, what greets you, peeping through gaps in the hoardings around the velodrome, is not a cycling track, but trees and heavy undergrowth.
Then, in February, publicly listed Radium Development Bhd's wholly owned indirect subsidiary, Radium J Velodrome Sdn Bhd (RVSB), proposed to acquire a mixed-use land parcel and two commercial land parcels for RM458 million.
Bursa Malaysia filing
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, Radium said RVSB had signed a conditional sale and purchase agreement with Dupion Development Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Jakel, for the acquisition.
The company provided more information on the land and the transaction in a circular to shareholders last month at an Extraordinary General Meeting to approve the purchase, signed by its non-executive chairperson Amin Nordin Abd Aziz.
Amin was formerly DBKL's director-general. He was appointed Mayor in July 2015 and retired in September 2018.
It said DBKL had, on April 1, 2024, provided Dupion with an approval-in-principle for a master development order to be issued later. This entails designating the three plots for mixed-use development with a proposed plot ratio of 1:8.
The circular, among other things, said Dupion had submitted a proposed site layout plan to DBKL on April 17 last year. It has yet to be approved. Radium anticipates DBKL's approval of the site layout plan, which will be issued by the third quarter.
The circular also cited Dupion's substantial shareholders as Platinum Victory Sdn Bhd and Jakel Development Sdn Bhd, which held a 50 percent stake each in the company.
ADSHere is the clincher - the same land where the velodrome stood and two other irregular-shaped adjoining plots were sold for a whopping RM458 million - more than three times the original purchase price.
Original sale
Regarding the original sale to Jakel, did DBKL carry out a valuation, or was it a case of willing buyer, willing seller, or a hefty discount in an “abang-adik” deal?
After the dispute over the land in Jalan Masjid India, where a Hindu temple was situated, I wrote: “The ensuing furore could have been avoided if the public had been told the truth. Until today, DBKL has played dumb, refusing to provide details of how that plot of land ended up in private hands.
“Was the land sold via a public auction? Were bids invited after public notification? Was there a valuation report? Did DBKL get a fair value for the land? Or was it a direct deal at a considerable discount?
“How many parcels of land ended up in private hands through negotiations? Because of the publicity generated, we now know that land meant for a police station in Taman Desa in Kuala Lumpur ended up in private hands.”
These questions must be repeated, and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office (Federal Territories) Dr Zaliha Mustafa must compel DBKL to make the disclosure.
In the same commentary, I quoted a report in The Edge Property, which said in a 2018 report, DBKL ended the sale of 18 parcels of land worth RM1.4 billion as the transactions were deemed unfavourable to the city.
The mayor then was Amin. He did not name all the plots in question but identified a 12.9ha parcel in Cheras being sold to a textile dealer as one of the axed transactions.
Later the same year, then-federal territories minister Khalid Abdul Samad said DBKL recovered RM149 million by renegotiating 16 of 23 dubious land deals involving 104ha.
He said another 5.04ha of land worth RM113.8 million had also been returned to DBKL.
Besides, in 2020, the Public Accounts Committee implied that settling the 97 land sale transactions belonging to DBKL, which have been sold since 2011, is incompatible with standard operating procedures.
So, where do we go from here? Despite its damning conduct the subsequent censure, DBKL remains unresponsive, unwilling to provide plausible answers for its conduct or those of its officials.
What about DBKL’s advisory board, which is composed of political appointees? Don’t they owe the people of Kuala Lumpur an inkling of how these deals were made?
Or, will it take a directive from the prime minister to order officials seated on their swivel chairs in their air-conditioned offices to get cracking and re-open the files? - 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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