KUALA LUMPUR – The plan to redevelop Plaza Batai in affluent Damansara Heights was rejected by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) as it is not in line with the KL City Plan 2020 (KLCP).
DBKL’s corporate planning department said this was one of several reasons the city council had turned down the application.
“We refer to the commercial development proposal in Jalan Batai, Bukit Damansara, Kuala Lumpur that we received on December 28, 2020, and which was processed by our One Stop Centre (OSC) special committee.”
“After reviewing the application based on our technical planning evaluation criteria, it is found that there are several basis on which we have rejected it, including that it is not in line with the KLCP,” DBKL said in a statement to The Vibes.
“These lots are reserved for local land use with a plot ratio of 1:2, taking into account the existing infrastructure and public facilities capability in Bukit Damansara, especially Jalan Batai.”
A plot ratio sets out the maximum developable area that can be constructed on a plot of land to control the rapid increase of additional developments in an already saturated market.
DBKL said the technical evaluation process, as well as the consideration for approval through the OSC, is a normal process, done in accordance with the guidelines and laws it adopts.
Earlier today, The Vibes reported that the redevelopment plan by tycoon Tan Sri Desmond Lim was rejected by DBKL, just days after his plans to develop Taman Rimba Kiara were shot down by the Court of Appeal.
DBKL town planning officer Hanif Nordin had confirmed the matter but did not elaborate further, although The Vibes understood that the high-density nature of the project played a key role in the decision.
Lim, of Pavilion fame, was reported to have bought the 16 double-storey terraced shop lots in Damansara Heights last December to the tune of RM100 million from Selangor Properties Bhd.
The plan was to demolish and redevelop the 49-year-old upmarket retail shop lots, which are located on three plots of land – Lots 47052, 53834, and 538351 – into serviced apartments.
Motif Budi Sdn Bhd, the company responsible for the redevelopment, is said to have submitted the planning application last month, with plans to amalgamate the three plots to build two 19-storey blocks, each comprising 152 units, with two floors of retail space.
On Wednesday, the Court of Appeal declared the development order granted for the Taman Rimba Kiara project in Taman Tun Dr Ismail null and void.
The project would have seen the development of eight blocks of 42- to 54-storey high-end serviced apartments, to be known as Pavilion Taman Tun, and one 29-storey block comprising 350 units for current residents of longhouses there. – The Vibes, January 30, 2021
