KBDC: New master plan on drawing board
THE Kampung Baru Detailed Development Masterplan (PITPKB), launched in January 2015, will be scrapped, says Kampung Baru Development Corp (KBDC) chief executive Zulkarnain Hassan.
He said a new master plan, initated by Kuala Lumpur City Hall, is on the drawing board and the focus will be to provide sustainable living.
“We are currently drafting a new master plan. The intention is to meet the plot ratio allowed by City Hall. If it says the plot ratio is 10, we will accommodate and come up with a proper new layout. We want Kg Baru to be a new sustainable township,” said Zulkarnain told NST Property.
The initial PITPKB was expected to create around 7.3 million sq m of residential and commercial developments spread over 60.7ha, generating over RM60 billion in gross development value (GDV).
The 20-year―project was planned to have 17,500 residential units, a retail mall and offices with an estimated cost of RM43 billion.
Zulkarnain said the current layout was not suitable.
“Based on discussions with the Federal Territory Ministry, we think the current layout is not good to be continued. The old plan concept is to allow each individual plot to be developed. If we follow the old layout, it means that we are going to allow two skyscrapers to be developed on the same plot. If this happens, there will be no proper open space or public area. It will all look very messy and congested.
“We are proposing to have a new master plan. With this new master plan, we can allocate some areas for public use.”
Zulkarnain said the new master plan will look at iconic structures and the standards will be on par with buildings located within the 40ha KLCC development in the central business district of Kuala Lumpur.
KLCC is a landmark of prime Grade A offices, premier retail, four- to five- star hotels, luxury residences/serviced apartments, MICE (meetings, incentives, convention and exhibition) facilities, and world-class entertainment.
“We want to develop Kg Baru and bring it to something similar to the KLCC, which has a metropolitan park, and Putrajaya that has a lot of open space and a proper plaza,” he said.
BROWNFIELD SITE
The 120-year-old Kg Baru is a brownfield site with thousands of small landowners.
It has a total land area of 121.4ha administered by KBDC. Most of the land is owned by individual owners, who acquired small plots in early 1900s.
The current Kg Baru landscape consists of seven villages that come under “Malay Agriculture Settlement” (MAS) status spread over 89ha, as well as Chow Kit and the PKNS flats, which combined, cover an area of 32.4ha.
The seven villages are Kampung Periok and Kampung Hujung Pasir, of which villagers are of Malaccan descendants; Kampung Masjid (Rawa); Kampung Paya (majority Javanese); Kampung Atas A and Kampung Atas B (mixture of Mandailing and Minangkabau); and Kampung Pindah (Malaccan and Javanese descendants).
The land in Kg Baru (including Chow Kit and the PKNS flats) is divided into 1,355 lots with around 5,300 registered owners. Of the total 1,355 lots, around 88 per cent, or 1,193 lots, measure less than 11,840 sq ft, or 0.11ha each.
Among the iconic structures that still stand today from yesteryears are the Sultan Suleiman Club, Masjid Jamek Kampung Baru, Masjid Pakistan, Gurdwara Tatt Khalsa (Sikh place of worship) and several rows of sundry shops.
The Sultan Suleiman Club opened in 1909 but has been turned into a museum while the adjacent Sultan Suleiman building, which was rebuilt in 1969, is now used for commercial purposes.
Kg baru saw its first major facelift around 1967, spearheaded by the Selangor State Development Corp (PKNS).
In the 1970s, UDA Holdings Bhd and the federal government embarked on a plan to build several rows of shop offices to accommodate demand from traders and businessmen. Since then, there has been no further major developments in Kg Baru.