A GROUP of residents lodged a report against Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) with the anti-graft agency over the sale of a reserved land in Bandar Tun Razak, Cheras for the construction of a high-rise residence.

Ten residents from Bandar Tun Razak filed the report at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) office in Jalan Cochrane, Kuala Lumpur.

They alleged possible foul play in the acquisition and sale of the land that was reserved for a football field.

Lawyer Zulhazmi Shariff, who represented the residents, hoped MACC would investigate whether there was any misdeed or abuse of position by DBKL.

“The football field was gazetted as a reserved land for public use on Nov 24, 2005 and the title was changed on Dec 22 last year.

“However, an application for a proposed high-rise residential project was submitted to DBKL on May 3 last year and it was approved with condition on Oct 18 the same year.

“At the point of approval, the land was still a reserved land and had not yet been handed over to DBKL,” he said in a press conference yesterday.

Zulhazmi also produced documents to show that on Feb 6 this year, the land was handed over to DBKL.

“The residents lodged a complaint last year to MACC. With the evidence we have, we hope MACC will reinvestigate the case,” he said.

He said out of the project’s four blocks, two were for low-cost apartments.

The 40-storey blocks on the 2.09ha land will have 1,814 units and the population density will increase from 60 to 1,400 per acre.

The residents also claimed that there was no public hearing for the project while notices of the project were pasted at places that were hidden from sight.

“Save Our Field” action committee chairman Meor Amin Shaari said the field benefitted the public.

“We enjoyed the field for free and even though we have a new football field along Jalan Budiman, but now football teams have to pay a hefty fee to enjoy the facilities.

“Players are charged RM380 to RM420 to play one session while at the current field in Jalan Jujur, teams only pay RM80 to DBKL for an official match,” he said.

Seputeh MP Teresa Kok who was present at the press conference to support the residents, said the population density was too high and not suitable for the area.

She also cited traffic congestion as another major concern.

“Even with one parking allocated to each unit, additional cars belonging to unit owners will definitely spill over and will be parked by the road side.

“We should also maintain the green spaces in the city which is getting scarce,” she said, calling for the project to be put on hold to allow MACC to investigate the residents’ complaint.