KUALA LUMPUR – The remaining group of Kg Sg Baru residents that opposed the proposed redevelopment project in one of the few remaining kampung in the capital city here has been told to vacate their home by the middle of January.
This was revealed by the village’s action committee in a statement today, saying that they had been served with a Form K notice by the Director General of Lands and Mines Office Department (JKPTG WPKL).
“The form states that the residents are given 30 days (from last week) to vacate their homes,” the group’s spokesman Johari Zakaria said in a statement today.
Zakaria said that the residents were distraught with the decision as the redevelopment project planned on their existing homes will only be completed in the next three years, which would force them to either rent new homes, or buy new ones to live with the “inadequate compensation” offered.
“Some have not even received any compensation (yet) after being served with the eviction notice,” he added.
He also added that the plea to allow an extension of six months for the residents to relocate fell on deaf ears with the authorities, who told them that they were only carrying orders from above.
The group has now pleaded with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to step in to help defend the oppressed rakyat, while also calling for the 1960 Land Acquisition Act to be reviewed by the government.
“We also want to emphasise that we have never rejected development. but it needs to go through a fair process and to be negotiated transparently with the residents, so it does not create opportunities for developers and interested parties making obscene profits while taking advantage of those that have inhabited these lands for so long,” Johari said.
The Kg Sg Baru action committee was formed by about 10% of the terrace and flat owners in the area who argued that the compensation offered to them was unjust.
It was reported that the Kampung Baru Development Corporation, the developer that has acquired the land to develop apartment blocks, has offered cash aid as well as an increased discount on the new apartment unit for the affected residents. – The Vibes, December 26, 2022
