Bangsar residents continue their opposition to 32-storey residential project

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 7): Residents of Jalan Abdullah, Bangsar are continuing their opposition to a 32-storey residential development in their neighbourhood, the Malay Mail reported today.

They claim that “no prior engagement was done with residents” before the project was approved.

“Before the proposal of the project was approved, they should have met the residents. Not the other way around, approve the proposal and then talk to the residents,” Selamatkan Kuala Lumpur (SKL) chairman and Bukit Bandaraya Residents’ Association adviser Datuk M. Ali told the news portal.

Ali revealed that the traffic impact assessment, environmental impact assessment and social impact assessment were not conducted for the devlopment.

He said residents were not against development but they felt that Jalan Abdullah cannot “take the increased density of a high-rise project”.

He added that there could be “potential damage to the surroundings from the piling and earthworks needed to support such a project”.

“Because there is a natural waterway in the area, it is just not safe to build a 32-storey high-rise on Jalan Abdullah,” Ali said.

“We don’t want another ‘Highland Towers’ incident in Kuala Lumpur,” he warned.

Resident T. Sharmini told Malay Mail that houses on the road “were built in the 1930s and were never designed to withstand the shocks of piling”.

“As it is, several ‘disasters’ have happened on Jalan Abdullah. Within a year, the retaining wall of No 7 fell twice, and this part the land plot that the project will be built on.

“This is without any development in the area, and the wall fell twice. The resident who lives in No. 5 is very worried that her house’s foundation will not be able to sustain such massive soil movement,” she said.

Sharmini is afraid that a high-rise project “would worsen the already heavy traffic congestion caused by patrons of restaurants in the area”.

Some of the restaurants in the area are The Lankan Crabs, Apollo Dining and Azeta Kitchen.

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