GREEN NO MORE: A billboard advertises bungalow land for sale at the entrance to where the hill is being cleared for the project
PETALING JAYA: The fate of Bukit Gasing appears to be sealed. Bulldozers have cut huge tracts of forests to build 69 bungalows on 15.3 ha.
Work on the Sanctuary Ridge Kuala Lumpur City project began in August despite the fact the residents' appeal against the High Court's dismissal of their application for a judicial review of the development is to be heard on Dec 12.
Petaling Jaya city councillor Derek Fernandez said the developer, Gasing Meridian Sdn Bhd, was acting within the law by commencing work on the land pending the appeal in court.
"From a legal standpoint, they can do the earthworks because there is no interim stay on the court's decision or an injunction against it," he told The Malay Mail yesterday.
"If the residents want to stop work on the land, they could apply for a stay on the court's decision pending the appeal. However, the residents would then have to pay a certain sum to the developer if an injunction is filed."
Bukit Gasing Joint Action Committee chairman Gary Yeoh said the injunction remained an option and he questioned the local authorities' role in upholding residents' interests.
"My main contention is, where is Kuala Lumpur City Hall's (DBKL) responsibility towards ratepayers and residents?" he said.
"It's about time local authorities lived up to their responsibility to ensure the safety of residents."
On Sept 6 last year, the High Court dismissed the judicial review application filed by residents seeking a public hearing on the development.
Judge Datuk Aziah Ali, who delivered the decision, said residents in the area had no right to be heard in relation to the hill slope development as the right for a public hearing only arose if there was a change of density or use to a plot of land.
The site for the development had been individually titled since 1977 and the land is categorised as "building". Gasing Meridian has owned the land since 1995.
On the clearing of vast tracts of forested areas, Yeoh said it was unsettling for residents.
"Large tracts of land are now exposed to the elements. Do we have to go through a landslide before an inquiry into the development is held?" he asked.
Bukit Gasing assemblyman Edward Lee said the onus was on the developer to ensure the land clearing work did not cause any untoward incidents.
Sanctuary Gasing Group marketing manager Steven Tan said the company had appointed an independent consultant, Ikram Engineering Services Sdn Bhd, to monitor the project.
He said development impact and mitigation measures such as proper drainage, and silt traps and bunds to divert and channel run-off water, mud and silt from public roads and the surrounding areas would be implemented.
Tan also said technologies such as inclinometers and settlement markers or gauges would be fixed to ensure the stability of the development into the future.
"Measures for slope protection include retaining walls and cutslope management using turf, hydro-seeding (where grass seeds are sprayed onto the slope along with mulch and binder), gabion mattresses, stone pitching, slope drainage and horizontal drains," he said.
It has also been reported Gasing Meridian intends to relocate the existing sewerage treatment plant at Taman Gasing Indah, and convert the site into a public park.
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