The Perak High Court had granted the joint management bodies (JMB) of the Haven Lakeside Residences and the Permai Lake View Apartments, represented by General Tan Sri Mohd Zahidi bin Zainuddin (Rtd) and Said bin Ahmad, respectively, leave to challenge the planning approval given by Ipoh City Council on August 11, 2014 to MH Amanjaya Properties Sdn Bhd to develop and build two blocks of 15-storey apartments next to the two complexes.
The high court also ordered a stay of the planning approval until the trial of the case. This effectively stopped all works on the land that are being carried out pursuant to the planning approval. The suspension is effective on Monday, April 20.
The applicants, who were represented by Derek Fernandez, S. Selvarajah and R. Ramanathan, claimed that the planning permission was inconsistent with the zoning plan for the area and, moreover, the land was not suitable for the proposed development.
“The approval given is improper because the land is zoned for infrastructure and utilities,” said Derek Fernandez. “The planning approval had breached a provision of the Town and Country Planning Act 1976.”
The work would have deleterious impact on the environment and would deny property owners the enjoyment of their properties.
“The lake here used to be emerald green with lotus plants but now it has turned dull brown,” said Jeffrey Tan, a member of The Haven joint management body, to Ipoh Echo. “Whenever it rains, the water could not flow fast enough and it’s flowing backwards, causing water retention in our land,” he added referring to the waterlogged drains near The Haven Lakeside Residences and the unusual flooding in the area.
Meanwhile, MH Amanjaya Properties Sdn Bhd, which was in the midst of constructing the retention-pond upgrades, stated that it had not received any official letter regarding the stop-work order from the Ipoh High Court.
Mei Kuan
Latest on The Haven Impasse
The joint management committees of Permai Lake View Apartments and The Haven Lakeside Residences have sent a letter of objection and appeal to both the Menteri Besar and Datuk Bandar not to rezone the 1.93-acre site, currently earmarked for infrastructure and utilities, to ‘kediaman’ (residential development) and not to allow the building of the QUBE development on the said land. They have obtained over 800 signatures of owners and residents of both the projects in support.
In the letter, they explained that both east and west of the said land were zoned as ‘kediaman’. In fact, both these lands are earmarked for low-cost houses. The 1.93 acre is a sandwiched piece of land in between the ‘kediaman’ lands and has been gazetted as ‘Infrastructure and Utilities’.
The two committees reasoned that “if the ground condition was suitable, this 1.93-acre piece of land would have been zoned ‘kediaman’ in 2012 and a low-cost development or a larger low-cost development connecting the two low cost developments would have been built on the said land.”
They added that to change the use of this piece of land for the building of high-rise buildings would be catastrophic and dangerous. They have two independent specialist geophysical reports to support their claim.
Both committees have written eight letters to the authorities, thus far. And this letter, with over 800 signatures, they are appealing to both the Menteri Besar and Datuk Bandar once again.
Ed
