Taman Desa residents met with Kuala Lumpur mayor Mohd Amin Nordin Abdul Aziz today to voice their opposition to the high number of high-density housing developments approved to be built in the area.

Among their concerns were that these developments would worsen traffic congestion and add undue pressure to existing water pipes in the area.

Taman Desa was already home to some 8,000 residents but the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) recently approved 18 high-density blocks, totalling 5,744 housing units, to be built in the area, said Taman Desa Residents Association deputy president Yap Biow Hwee.

“With the building of these new apartments and condominiums, we will see a 70 percent increase in the people living here… this is not sustainable.

“We ask that DBKL go back to the developers to review and fine-tune these projects,” Yap (centre in photo) told a press conference after the meeting at DBKL headquarters this morning.

According to Yap, these 18 new blocks are to be located along key passageways into the Taman Desa housing area.

Even from the construction phase, he predicts traffic flow will worsen and the number of vehicles parked along the road in the vicinity of these developments will increase.

No infrastructure plan to mitigate these issues has been made known to residents.

Yap also said that flooding happened frequently in Taman Desa. Thus, the new developments would increase the stress applied to an already ageing drainage and sewage system.

“On completion of these projects, the vast built-up areas will collect more surface water to flood the ageing drainage system.

“We have no evidence of any plan to upgrade the entire drainage system,” he added.

Specific solutions demanded

Apart from meeting Mohd Amin Nordin, the residents association also met with the city’s Urban Planning director Sulaiman Mohamed and relayed their woes to him.

During the meeting, the association handed the mayor a memorandum, signed by 2,400 residents, objecting to overdevelopment in Taman Desa.

The association’s treasurer, Koh Swee Hong (right in photo), said that while the mayor has been attentive to their complaints, he stopped short of promising detailed solutions to their woes.

“We want specific solutions, infrastructure-based solutions from DBKL (to the complaints we highlighted),” Koh said.

Also in attendance at the meeting was Seputeh MP Teresa Kok.

“What the people want is very simple, just follow the KL Structure Plan 2020.

“If they simply approve projects (like this), KL will become a mess,” Kok said at the same press conference.

Approved back in 2004, the KL Structure Plan 2020 outlines guidelines for how the city is to be developed.