Paramount View development: Where are the answers?

Datuk Bandar
MBPJ OSC chair[person]

RE: Approval of Paramount View Development by Petaling Jaya City Council OSC Committee

I have written to you back on 8 Nov 2010 on the matter of the Paramount View development, raising several important issues on the validity and legality of the actions that the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) sanctioned.

Neither you nor your officers have replied to that letter to date, despite the seriousness of the issues I raised.

As such, I shall follow up on this matter with this open letter and make public the previous letter that I have written, lest I too be accused of impropriety.

This letter will raise more issues concerning the project that have since come to my attention.

This letter is written without prejudice.

Land title validity

The Paramount View Condominium development was approved by the then Petaling Jaya Municipal Council (MPPJ) in 2005. Approval was given based on the land titles that were registered in 1993 (attachment A).

However, a Selangor government gazette in 2003 revoked all the land titles for the area for the purpose of building low-cost housing (attachment B). If this gazette revoked the land titles, how were the land titles used to obtain the planning permission for a medium cost condominium in 2005, which clearly contravenes the specific intent stated in the gazette?

More perplexing, however, is the emergence of a new land title that shows that the piece of land was registered in 2007 (attachment C). Supposing that this was a valid land title for the area, it would then invalidate the development’s approval in 2005.

However this matter is viewed, the facts are incompatible as it presently stands.

OSC’s duty

The discrepancies that I am pointing out here are serious and have wide-reaching implications. As the OSC (One Stop Centre) unit is responsible for development approvals within Petaling Jaya, I hereby insist that the OSC committee do the following:

explain how the council approved the development back in 2005;

investigate the validity of the land titles; and

prepare a public report to explain all the discrepancies that I have pointed out.

Kindly provide a written response to this letter within 14 days.

Regards,

[Signed]

MAK KHUIN WENG
MBPJ Local Councillor Zone 9
Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya