KUALA SELANGOR: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) should investigate the alleged discrepancies in rezoning the Paya Indah Wetlands reserve to facilitate development projects, said Tan Sri Noh Omar (pic).

Noh, who is the Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister, said the applications to change the title of the agricultural lots had been repeatedly rejected over the years by former Selangor mentris besar from both Barisan Nasional and the Opposition.

“Why such an application was approved by the administration of the current mentri besar now? This is the question and it must be looked into,” he said at the Tanjung Karang Umno Youth meeting yesterday.

Noh said the people deserved answers on the issue as the Federal Government had earlier spent close to RM1mil to develop the Paya Indah Wetlands.

“There will also be adverse effects on the nearby environmental ecosystem should the land be developed, which may bring about mud flows and flash floods in the area,” he said.

The issue cropped up when former PKR Youth leader Badrul Hisham Shaharin, better known as Chegubard, claimed that Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azmin Ali had changed the land status of Lot 68054, involving the Paya Indah Wetlands, in favour of an engineering, property and infrastructure company.

Badrul Hisham later lodged a report with the MACC on the allegation.

On another matter, Noh said the Federal Government would study the legal aspects regarding management of the People’s Housing Project (PPR) in Lembah Subang 1 before it intends to take over the right to manage the homes from the Selangor government.

He said the state government had failed to properly maintain the houses, adding that both the land and buildings of the PPR houses belonged to the Federal Government.

He was responding to Selangor exco member Datuk Iskandar Abdul Samad, who said that the state had no problem returning the PPR to the Federal Government provided it reimbursed the RM8mil it had spent on restoration.