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©The
Sunday Star (Used by permission)
by Salleh Buang
THE Kuala Lumpur City Plan 2020 launched last Friday at Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL),
has produced the expected mixed response from city folk.
Many rushed to City Hall, some with their own advisers, to
find out how this important document would impact their neighbourhood.
Envisioned as a "World Class City" (an overused and tired tagline, I should
say), the blurb in DBKL's official website proudly claimed:"By 2020, the City of
Kuala Lumpur will have many positive changes to the physical environment without
compromising the local environment and its ecology."
By that historic date, the city will become "a livable and attractive
environment for residents, businesses and tourists".
Drafted under Section 13 of the Federal Territory (Planning) Act 1982 (Act 267),
the City Plan follows through what the earlier Kuala Lumpur Structure Plan 2020
(KLSP 2020) had broadly hinted.
As mandated by law, it is a detailed plan (complete with
"diagrams, illustrations and descriptive matter") which will ensure a "major
global role" for Kuala Lumpur -- a role which it claimed will benefit "all of
its communities, workers, visitors and investors".
The Plan also promises that the future Kuala Lumpur will be a "sustainable city"
where balance will be struck and maintained "between physical, economic, social
and environmental development".
In essence, this new document has become City Hall's primary planning and
development strategy for the next 12 years. It constitutes the basic development
blueprint for city planners and decision makers.
Not only will it facilitate service delivery by City Hall, it will also aid the
marketing of Kuala Lumpur at the global level, so say the colourful brochures
distributed to the public.
The City Plan has five main strategic directions to make the vision -- Kuala
Lumpur as a World Class City in 2020 -- a reality.
These have to do with the city structure, city economy, city living environment
and city image and identity.
To put it differently, these strategic directions are aimed at re-branding Kuala
Lumpur as a truly World Class City by 2020.
To do that, the City Plan has identified five main goals to be achieved:
- To make KL an international commercial and financial centre;
- To create an efficient and equitable city structure;
- To enhance the living environment;
- To create a distinctive identity and image;
- To implement an efficient and effective governance.
If these impressive goals can indeed be achieved by 2020, if the KL City fathers
mean every word they said here, I am happy.
But having been disappointed too many times in the past, I will withhold my
final comment for the time being.
In compliance with Section 13(3) and (4) of the 1982 Act, the City Plan
(intended to govern all the 120,000 lots of prime real estate in the city)
comprises four volumes of heavy reading.
The first volume describes the strategy to transform Kuala Lumpur into a
world-class city by year 2020, whilst the second sets out the Kuala Lumpur
Development Control Plan.
The third volume provides detailed guidelines whilst the fourth volume deals
specifically with the proposed redevelopment for Kampung Baru.
I am told that the City Plan draft will be exhibited for six weeks at the City
Hall lobby at Jalan Raja Laut, while mobile exhibitions will also be held at 12
other locations around the city.
These locations include (not an exhaustive list) Berjaya Times Square (May
15-June 14), Kuala Lumpur Sentral (May 15-31), TTDI Community Centre (June
1-16), Carrefour Wangsa Maju (May 15-June 15), Community Centre Gombak (June
16-30), Jaya Jusco (May 15-31), Community Centre Menjalara (June 1-14), Tesco
Ampang (May 15-June 15), Mid Valley (June 4-15).
According to KL mayor Datuk Abdul Hakim Borhan, the City Plan will be gazetted
by the end of this year if "everything proceeds smoothly".
Assuring the media that the city will have "more green lungs" in the future, he
added that the rail services will also be increased from the current level at 10
per cent to 61 per cent.
There are also plans to increase bus services and pedestrian walkways in the
city centre, and more green belts connecting rivers, parks and other
recreational areas.
Abdul Hakim also admitted that there is a dire need for a top class
infrastructure system to resolve the city's familiar woes -- floods, rubbish and
sewerage.
Acknowledging the runaway development of past, he said that efforts must be
seriously taken to safeguard "the image and identity of Kuala Lumpur's cultural
heritage".
In line with e-government, Malaysians are especially welcomed to take a closer
look at this important document in cyberspace -- at klcityplan2020.dbkl.gov.my
-- and post their comments.
However, if you are a KL resident, you might want to attend any one (or more) of
the promised seven public hearing sessions to be held in the near future. At
these sessions, you will have a chance to speak your mind.
According to media reports, each individual is given 10 minutes to say his piece
and each organisation is given twice that much.
Under Section 15 of the 1982 Act, it is provided that "where practicable", the
mayor (Datuk Bandar) "shall hear any person... who has made a request to be
heard at the time of filing the objection or making representation and if
necessary he may call for a local enquiry".
It is only after the Section 15 procedure has been properly complied that the
City Plan draft can be adopted (published in the Gazette) under Section 16 of
the Act.
Once that is done, it becomes law.
The KL population is now believed to be somewhere around 1.6 million, living in
just under half a million homes.
This figure is expected to grow to more than 2.2 million by 2020 and there is
going to be a huge demand for affordable homes with all the basic social
infrastructures.
At the same time, the need to protect the environment becomes similarly greater.
Sustainable development is based on three cardinal principles -- economic
development; environmental integrity, and (even more important) social
well-being.
Future of Kampung Baru
To many original residents of Kuala Lumpur, the central core of the city is none
other than Kampung Baru.
Located in the vicinity of Kuala Lumpur City Centre and multi-million ringgit
iconic buildings which continue to darken the sky, Kampung Baru has for the past
five decades been left behind.
I visit the place from time to time, whenever I am in KL, usually guided by my
empty tummy in those rare mornings when I am quite free, in search of my
favourite lontong.
But I know many of my friends now avoid the place, preferring their breakfast in
the comforts of their 5-star hotel cafes.
Yes, the place is now more often ignored than remembered. But it is not ignored
in the City Plan.
The document now takes a fresh look at this stretch of prime property in its
Volume 4.
It acknowledges that Kampung Baru can be a "showcase" for pembangunan orang
Melayu as well as a growth centre berpotensi tinggi in the future.
Unfortunately, some 82 per cent of the land lots in this location measure less
than one acre.
This single factor had hindered high intensive development.
The problem is further aggravated by ad hoc developments over the years, which
cumulatively had made Kampung Baru a backyard for its inner-city dwellers.
The document also noted that despite its strategic location, there is, as yet,
no direct access (in the form of a public road or pedestrian walk-way) linking
this Malay settlement to KLCC.
In addition, residents of Kampung Periok, Dang Wangi and Sultan Sulaiman have to
continue to grapple with floods each time there is a downpour.
By 2020, this old face of Kampung Baru will be just a memory, says the document.
In its place, Kampung Baru will be the nation's arts, crafts and cultural
centre, a major high-class residential precinct, a tourist centre, and a green
corridor linking the cultural precinct in Jalan Tun Razak and Taman Titiwangsa
to the inner city area.
The old way of doing business in Jalan Chow Kit will cease to exist, but the
Ramadan Bazaar will be retained.
In 2020, Kampung Baru will be transformed into a kawasan perniagaan (a
commercial area), a "pusat pelancongan dan kebudayaan" (a tourist and
cultural centre), and a Kawasan Kediaman Utama dalam Bandar (a primary
urban residential area).
Detailed strategies and action plans are put in place, including the creation of
"Corporate Street", "Auto City Mall", branding Kampung Baru as a "Malay
Gastronomy Destination", "Kuala Lumpur's Urban Homestay", and a "Malay Cultural
Destination".
Professor Salleh Buang is a visiting professor at UTM, Johor. He can be
reached at sallehbuang@hotmail.com
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