KUALA LUMPUR: The Federal Territories Ministry is willing to hold talks with all Kampung Baru landowners on the sale of land to the government for re-development.
FT Minister Khalid Abdul Samad (pix) said it was necessary to hold meetings with the landowners to resolve the issue as there were many misconceptions about the matter.
“There are some people who say the government wants to buy the land at a cheap price to drive Malays out of Kampung Baru, which is not true. We only want to find a solution to retain Malay ownership of land in Kampung Baru while at the same time, develop the area into a modern and integrated settlement.
“We do not want Kampung Baru to be left out of the rapid development in Kuala Lumpur, if we allow it not to develop, people will say we have ignored the needs of the Malays in the area, so we want their assets to be developed,” he told reporters after launching the ‘KL Car Free Morning’, here today.
He said he had held talks with the Kampung Baru Development Corporation (PKB) and the Malay Agricultural Settlement Board, as well as some of the landowners on the issue.
“There are lands with dozens of names of owners that they do not know what to do. So if they agree to sell the land, they could get the money or apartments from the developers, it is up to them, what is important is for us to discuss a mechanism to resolve their problem,” he said.
On April 22, Khalid was quoted as saying the government needed RM10 billion to acquire Kampung Baru land which could be developed into a modern and systematic settlement for Malays in the city centre.
He said the funds were needed to enable the ministry to develop Kampung Baru in a comprehensive manner and not in clusters or ‘retail’ agreements between the landowners and the developers.
He added that there were several proposals from non-governmental organisations, including PKB which wants the government to provide transit homes to the landowners if there are plans to redevelop Kampung Baru.
Earlier, Khalid flagged off about 800 participants of the ‘OrphanCare Superheroes Charity Run’ in conjunction with the ‘KL Car-Free Morning’ at Dataran Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL) here.
Chairman of OrphanCare, Tan Sri Faizah Mohd Tahir said besides promoting a healthy lifestyle, the programme also aimed to collect funds for Yayasan Orphancare which looked after abandoned babies. - Bernama
