Adjacent project irks residents

The Star 6/5/2006

RESIDENTS of Taman Medan, Petaling Jaya, especially those living along Jalan 29 and Jalan 30, are at loggerheads with the developer of an adjacent housing project which the residents claim is encroaching into their territory. The residents say the developer should not be using the roads in their neighbourhood to transport materials to the project site.

The residents claim that since they were two different projects, the developer should have built its own access roads for the use of its lorries and tractors to transport construction materials to its project.

Taman Medan Resident's Association deputy chairman David Chew said the roads in Taman Medan had never been resurfaced, and heavy vehicles moving in and out of the housing estate to the adjacent Buana Perdana site would only worsen the bad condition of the roads.

“The noise and dust are unbearable. If they are going to work late into the evening, they should have built their own access road and not use the existing roads in Taman Medan,” said Chew.

Chew said: “The local authority should have at least consulted the residents and heard their views before approving the last phase of the project,” argued Chew.

Some of the residents who were interviewed said side lanes, which were once about 6m wide, have now been narrowed down to just 3.6m or less.

There are a total of 20 houses along Jalan 29 and a side lane of less than 3m separates the Buana Perdana project and the Taman Medan housing estate.

“It should be 6m, wide enough for two passing vehicles,” said Chew.

Another issue the residents are not happy about is the demolition of a corner lot in Taman Medan to make way for the Buana Perdana project.

Resident Nila Muniandy, who lives next to the demolished house, said the developer brought down the vacant lot in January this year.

A site supervisor from the development company, who only wanted to be known as Yap, said they were building according to specifications approved by MPPJ.

“And part of the conditions is that we resurface the roads we use,” said Yap.

He said as for the house that was demolished, it was sitting on Buana Perdana land, it was never sold and was unoccupied because it was illegally built.

“Initially MPPJ had asked us to build a side lane between our project and Nila's house. But, since her house is an intermediate lot and not a corner lot, the idea was scrapped and MPPJ asked us to build a wall instead to link both the projects,'' added Yap.

He said residents could view the approved master plan at MPPJ.