KL land row threatens to derail MRT project
By Clara Chooi, The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12 — The ongoing land rights dispute between the MRT project owner and city traders here has turned into a political hot potato that could see the country’s most expensive infrastructure project delayed.
The months of discussions, public engagement talks, court challenges, street protests and interventions by civil society groups and politicians across the divide have made no headway in resolving the issue.
Today, Jalan Sultan and Jalan Bukit Bintang traders — backed by former MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat and DAP’s Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun — attempted to up the ante by threatening to raise their grouses directly with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak if their demands are not met.
The ad hoc committees encompassing traders from both streets have also banded together to form the “Committee of preserving Jalan Sultan and Jalan Bukit Bintang”, a special joint taskforce aimed at pressuring the government into considering a realignment to the MRT’s Sungai Buloh-Kajang line.
But a meeting held last Thursday with MRT Co already gave the group clear indication that the project owner was just as unwilling to budge from its planned acquisition of prime properties located along both the iconic streets.
According to Ong, MRT Co officials gave “not one chance” to the traders to present their alternative route, which would see their properties saved.
“The realignment proposal was shot down, or rather, it was not allowed to be presented at all. Not one chance was given, leaving no room for alternative views,” he lamented today.
People protest against the proposed land acquisition in Bukit Bintang, October 12, 2011. — Picture by Jack Ooi
MRT Co has also allegedly approached individual traders with offers of attractive compensation packages aimed at enticing them into giving up their properties.
The move has spread fear among traders that their struggle to keep their properties would eventually fall apart.
“Do not tell me that this is the only line available and we cannot even consider an alternative route,” the joint taskforce’s chairman Tan Yew Sing told press conference held at the Kuala Lumpur Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH) this afternoon.
Co-chairman Stanley Yong also gave a detailed briefing on the proposed alternative route, which would see the SBK line rerouted from Jalan Sultan to Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock and include integrated terminals with the LRT Pasar Seni station and KTMB line and another with the Puduraya bus terminal.
The alternative line, he said, may force a 200m extension to the original route but would reap in more benefits in terms of attracting more tourists into Chinatown, reviving Plaza Rakyat beside Puduraya, improving inter-transport connectivity and saving the heritage structures along Jalan Sultan and Jalan Bukit Bintang.
“Also, with the original line, the tunnelling would have to go through limestone… this is more tedious and takes longer. Furthermore, there will be vibration and cracks to the old buildings, affecting the safety of structures above ground,” he said.
