GOMBAK – The Kg Warisan settlement situated close to Klang Gates Dam will be relocated to make way for a riverside public park soon.
The decision was made in a high-level meeting of the Selangor executive council. It entails that the agricultural land near the dam be gazetted as an open green space or recreational park in the future.
The Gombak Land and District Office stated that on August 2 it had carried out an investigation together with Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) into the status and history of the squatters occupying the land located at the foot of Bukit Tabur.
Based on our investigation, it was found that the land in the area is government land that had been approved for temporary occupancy licences (TOL) around the 1970s and 1980s,” the statement said. “After that period, the state government never issued or gave any approval for settlement or occupation in the area concerned.”
In the statement, it was also disclosed that Kg Warisan had not been recorded in the list of traditional villages in the Gombak district all along.
“The state executive council on August 10, 2022, has decided that the land is to be reserved under Section 62 of the National Land Code for river reserve and open space (recreational site) purpose and the residents in the area (of Kg Warisan) will be included in the list for the proposed relocation project to nearby development areas,” the statement added.
However, the timeline for the relocation of the illegal colony on Lot 818 of Taman Warisan was still unclear at press time.
For the record, Section 62 of the National Land Code (Act 56 of 1965) allows state governments to gazette any state land for public purposes.
The recent decision by Selangor’s executive council coincides with the state administration's policy to preserve the environmentally sensitive area around the belts of Bukit Tabur as announced two months ago by state Tourism, Environment, Green Technology, and Orang Asli Affairs exco Hee Loy Sian.
It was reported in 2019 that the Bukit Tabur quartz ridge was to be gazetted by the Tourism, Arts, and Culture Ministry as a national heritage site under the National Heritage Act 2005 (Act 645).
In July, it was revealed that the popular picnic spot located nearby Klang Gates Dam was taken over by a private operator, who was also a resident of Kg Warisan, for ecotourism ventures.
With the exception of campers, visitors were required to pay RM7 (adults) and RM3 (children) as an entrance fees – and were only allowed to visit the river bay from 7am to 7pm.
A RM70 fee was also imposed for day or overnight camping by renting the 25-sq-ft spot at the riverside, a stone’s throw away from the dam, since last year’s movement control order.
Following the expose by The Vibes, MPAJ on July 22 had raided an ecotourism operator for conducting activities in the upstream area of Sg Klang without approval from the authorities.
MPAJ president Mohd Fauzi Mohd Yatim had said no green light had been given to any party to set up ecotourism ventures near the dam.
For the record, MPAJ never issued any kind of permits or provided approval to anyone or any enterprise to impose fees on members of the public, be it an individual or a group, for recreational activities or leisure near the dam,” he had said.
It is learnt that the action was largely due to the fact that the operator was displaying the Selangor Water Management Authority, Drainage and Irrigation Department, MPAJ, and Selangor government emblems on the signages without approval from the state.
To date, the said operator is yet to be charged for exploiting the state agencies’ and Selangor government’s emblems as part of the communication collateral to collect fees from the public. – The Vibes, October 8, 2022
