Last call for Plaza Rakyat developer

16/10/2007 NST By Minderjeet Kaur

The three-month grace period for the developer of the abandoned Plaza Rakyat project is up.

It will be the end of the road if Plaza Rakyat Sdn Bhd fails to show proof that it is capable of reviving the RM1.2 billion bus and taxi terminal with service apartments, hotels and office blocks.

Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Zulhasnan Rafique said the developer would be called for a meeting with City Hall soon.

"We are going to discuss issues with them. The meeting is also to find a solution so that the government and the developer will benefit in the long run," he said during his Hari Raya open house for the media in Setiawangsa yesterday.

The Plaza Rakyat project is adjacent to the Puduraya bus terminal.

The federal government had given Plaza Rakyat Sdn Bhd the tender to build a new terminal to replace the congested and stuffy Puduraya.

Despite receiving extensions five times since 1995, it is only 33 per cent completed.

Zulhasnan said that City Hall had been given the task of finding a solution to ensure both the government and the developer benefit from the meeting.

"Once City Hall comes up with a solution, it will get back to me."

The developer had started the project in December 1992 and was supposed to complete it in 1999.

However, the financial crisis in 1997 saw the project run into difficulties and construction work stopped.

So far, the developer has completed a Star-LRT station which is now in use. Two tunnels linking the Pudu area to Plaza Rakyat were also completed and are in use.

The ministry's parliamentary secretary, Yew Teong Look, had said the developer had sought an extension from March 31 last year to May 31 this year, but little work had been done.

The matter was raised in the Dewan Rakyat last June by Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun who said the delay in the project had caused losses for those who had invested in Plaza Rakyat and are now servicing loans for properties they had not possessed.