As reported in Malaysiakini on Oct 28:
The council agreed at a special meeting that allowing the development to proceed would be detrimental to the residents in the area. Nevertheless, the council’s decision has to be endorsed by the state planning committee.
The MPSJ decision comes at a critical junction as public utility companies have been gunning for a precedent to allow for commercial development of their public utility land.
If such a precedent had been allowed in Subang Jaya, the value of their land banks would multiply overnight. However, much of the land is situated within residential areas, resulting in residents getting up in arms over such development proposals at their doorstep.
“We are putting the people first,” said Subang Jaya councillor Tony Chang. “We would like to set a state wide precedent. We believe that public utility companies – now corporatised – should not be allowed to dispose off their unutilised land banks for profit.
“Instead the land should be offered back to the state, to be maintained as a green lung for the public benefit,” he added.
The spokesperson of the effected residents Philip Soong welcomed the council decision.
“We are happy that the council has decided that utility land should be kept at such, it makes no sense to allow for such development in residential areas.”
“I would like to thank the Subang Jaya state assemblyperson Hannah Yeoh for her support and for the councillors for making the right decision,”
“It’s nice to see the government respecting the rakyat,” he said.
Conflicts avoided
Yeoh said she supported the council decision fully.
“It was the right decision. If the development goes ahead, it will set a precedent for all utility land and we will have conflicts everywhere,” she said, adding that the state planning committee should endorse the decision of the town council.
Today’s MPSJ decision comes after years of attempts by TM to develop the land.
Under the previous BN government, the Subang Jaya town council twice rejected applications to sub-divide the land, stating that it should remain as land for public utilities reserved for telecommunication use.
However, a new application to develop the land as part of a joint venture with developer Pujangga Budiman was approved by the state planning committee in November 2008, as the land title had mysteriously been re-designated as commercial land.
USJ residents then challenged the development approval, stating that the land has always been recognised as public utility reserve and there has not been any process to covert the land to commercial land.
The same was also reported in The Star and NST. Read more about the issue here. I hope the State Planning Committee will do the right thing by preserving utility lands. We await their decision. I am committed to this cause – to ensure that unsustainable development does not take place under the Pakatan Rakyat government in the Subang Jaya constituency.