Crying for help to save park
THE annual report of the National Transformation Programme (NTP) is expected to be delivered by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak tomorrow. The event is expected to be telecast live to the whole country.
When that happens, many who live in Kuala Lumpur will be wondering if the NTP has truly achieved its goals and KPIs.
In 2009, the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) road map stated clearly that the aim was to put KL on the Top 20 Most Liveable Cities in the world by 2020. Lofty goals, one might say, but that was what it was about – a city that would be a great place to live in, work and play and would attract investments and talent.
In the 2017 Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Global Liveability Ranking, Kuala Lumpur is placed at number 70. Based on the Location Ratings Report of ECA International, which provides data on cost of living, salary, accommodation, tax, labour law, benefits and quality of life in about 400 locations worldwide, in the past five years Kuala Lumpur has seen a drop, falling from 25 to 126 in the list of the most liveable cities for Asian expatriates.
Twenty residents associations in Kuala Lumpur, representing more than 600,000 people, are voicing their concerns that overdevelopment is clearly not sustainable development. Representatives of more than 10 residents associations showed up at the World Urban Forum held in KL in early February this year to voice their concerns about one such development.
Taman Rimba Kiara, a wellloved community park which has been around for more than three decades, is now threatened by the development of a RM3bil mega project of eight blocks of 42 and 54storey highend condominiums. There is a longhouse community of 90 families who would be given a lowcost unit each in a 29storey block that will be built next to the eight blocks of condominiums.
The Taman Tun Dr Ismail residents association fully support DBKL’s effort to give the longhouse community their long overdue property on their existing land of 4.4 acres. However, the regazettement of the park for development is disheartening.
This park is home to rare species of trees, animals and birds such as the hornbill. This park is also the venue for countless weddings, charity fundraising events and sport.
In the past two years, many attempts have been made to engage the Federal Territories Ministry and DBKL to share the facts of the park and the longhouse community. The main question is why the doggedness in pursuing this megabillion project, especially in light of an oversupply situation which Bank Negara reported last year, and despite the huge outcry among the public. Doesn’t the voice of the rakyat matter anymore?
The Greener Kuala Lumpur Initiative aims to increase green space in line with the objective of turning KL into one of the top 20 liveable cities in the world. According to the 2010 ETP Roadmap Report, KL lagged behind other leading cities in terms of green spaces (only 12 square metres of green area per capita versus the WHO standard of 16 square metres per capita, and compared with 22 square metres in Vancouver, Canada). However, in the 2013 ETP annual report, it had dropped to 11 square metres of green space per person.
Looking closely at the KPIs in annual reports of previous years, many questions come to mind: > Why are we not measuring the number of square metres of green area per capita as a KPI? It doesn’t matter if there are trees being planted if many others are being cut down.
> Why aren’t more data available for KPIs for number of trees planted and maintained?
> Why are the KPIs not consistently reported?
The 20 residents associations have come together because there are many green spaces that are being or are going to be destroyed. These residents associations are unified as one voice cutting across ethnic groups and levels of income.
This is a topic the rakyat deeply care for, and we are appealing to the prime minister to help us save our park and other green spaces.