Wangsa Maju Setiawangsa Folk Want Hill Project An Election Issue

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Bukit Dinding, a popular fitness and recreational destination for hundreds of Kuala Lumpur residents is now an election dossier for candidates contesting the Setiawangsa parliamentary seat.
The latest police report calling for an investigation into false statements by the developer Nova Pesona Sdn Bhd on Monday brings the estimated number of residents vehemently objecting to development on Bukit Dinding to 8,400.
Protesting the development are residents in Wangsa Maju and Setiawangsa, most of whom are first owners of their properties who have grown into multigenerational households since the 1990s and are familiar with all the ground failures, landslips and landslides that have defaced the hill over the years.
Persatuan Penduduk Muafakat Section 5 (terrace houses) committee member Sri Utami Dewi Kasman said the candidate who wishes to contest and win the Setiawangsa constituency must champion the cause to save Bukit Dinding and protect residents surrounding it.
On the Wangsa Maju side, Section 5 terrace house residents are joined by Lojing Heights 1 residents’ association, Waizuri 1 residents’ association and Waizuri 2 residents’ association, representing an estimated 2,400 residents.
Meanwhile, 6,000 Setiawangsa residents living around the hill made known their objections to Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s (DBKL) recent approval for the development of two condominium blocks comprising 300 residential units on Bukit Dinding on Sept 25.
DBKL had declared the hill to be at “high risk” of landslides in 2014 and its subsequent approval of a development order in March this year came as a shock to residents.
Setiawangsa resident, Mustafa Kamal Abdul Aziz, an honorary professor at the University of Nottingham in the study of chemical engineering said: “All candidates will give the same promises but residents will elect a candidate who leads our fight.
“Incumbent Setiawangsa MP Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad has been actively engaging experts to advise us and pushing for answers from DBKL,” he said.
Nik Nazmi joined residents on many occasions in calling on DBKL to furnish documents crucial to discovering the decision behind its approval of the development order.
On his last Facebook post related to the Bukit Dinding issue dated Oct 7, Nik Nazmi listed documents that he has repeatedly requested from DBKL and they include the landslide threat assessment, terrain geological mapping report and the hydrogeology map.
Other documents requested were the construction convenience map, social impact assessment and traffic impact assessment.
The existing Bukit Dinding green lung stretching across a 121ha area is private property belonging to multiple owners.
Past landslides on Bukit Dinding
Residents, pooling their resources, have published images of a landslide that occurred on the hill even before the devastating 2011 incident.
The landslide occurred as early as April 2001.
Meanwhile, images of the 2011 incident and the thundering sounds that it made still linger with residents.
A 2020 research on landslide events in Malaysia titled “Historical landslide events in Malaysia 1993-2019” described the incident as catastrophic where 88 residents from bungalows, shop houses, and double-storey terrace houses were ordered to move out.
Developer claims EIA valid
The latest development approval for the condominium units was on a 2.4ha area (titled parcel 2) which was part of a 52ha parcel owned by Nova Pesona.
DBKL’s Town Planning Department director Zulkarnain Hassan approved the development plan on March 28 this year but residents in Setiawangsa and Wangsa Maju living around Bukit Dinding claim to have been left in the dark about this approval.
However, Nova Pesona said that its 2017 Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report is still valid.
According to the report, it was completed eight years ago in 2014 with geotechnical elements checked by Ikram Premier Consulting and received conditional approval in 2015.
Police reports against Nova Pesona
So far, two police reports have been filed by residents from Wangsa Maju and they are Persatuan Penduduk Muafakat Section 5 (terrace house), Lojing Heights 1 residents’ association, Waizuri 1 residents’ association and Waizuri 2 residents’ association.
The reports lodged on Oct 15 and Oct 17 at the Setiawangsa police station highlight false statements made by Nova Pesona. claiming that most of the residents in Section 5 Wangsa Maju have agreed to the proposed development.
The police report explained that 100 percent of the residents expressed their strong objections to the proposed development during the meeting held at the G-Tower Hotel on Sept 15.
It stated that the developer’s false claims reflected its lack of concern for the safety of residents and can confuse DBKL. - Mkini

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