KUALA LUMPUR – Plant nursery owners who are at risk of losing their business premises along the Sg Buloh highway will be relocated to four new locations.
Selangor infrastructure, public facilities, agricultural modernisation and agro-based industry committee chairman Izham Hashim told The Vibes that these locations will be turned into plant nursery hubs with the necessary tourism facilities.
“We are finding new locations to relocate these plant nurseries. It will be a proper hub with all the necessary facilities for them to be tourism centres.
“There are three to four locations. It will not be at the same place as there will be too much competition among the plant nurseries. Once we are ready to relocate them, they will get a tenth of a hectare of land each.”
When asked about former Selangor menteri besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim’s promise in 2012, which would have seen the nurseries moving to a plot of land across the road, Izham said he was looking for a long-term solution.
“We rather relocate them to a place where they can do business for a long time. Otherwise, in one or two years they may have to move, and that’s not good,” Izham said.
On the plan to move these nurseries to a hillside in Puncak Alam, Izham admitted that the location is not suitable.
“Yes, the hillside is not so suitable. It was just a temporary measure.”
On why these nurseries would have to move, Izham said there are two ongoing projects that will require the relocation of the plant nurseries.
The two projects are Dash Highway and Kwasa Land Sdn Bhd’s development.
However, Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) secretary-general A. Sivarajan is not entirely convinced by Izham's proposals yet.
“Something is preventing them from going forward with the 2012 promise by the then menteri besar Tan Sri Khalid.”
Yesterday, The Vibes reported based on Sivarajan’s statements, the 2012 promise by Khalid would see the nurseries relocated opposite the highway on land owned by the Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB).
Today, Sivarajan pointed to an article from The Edge, which suggested shady land deals in the area.
In January last year, The Edge had reported that former Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok said Aset Tanah Nasional Bhd (ATNB) – a Finance Ministry special purpose vehicle – acquired land from MRB at RM1.5 billion in 2010.
ATNB then sold it to EPF via direct sale. The land was in Lot 481, located between Kota Damansara and Sg Buloh.
The sale of the land to EPF was for the development of a township by Kwasa Land Sdn Bhd.
“From what I understand, MRB was unhappy because it felt short-changed (a difference of RM780 million) from the deal,” Sivarajan said. – The Vibes, December 23, 2020
