Khalid Samad explains 'no more public hearing' statement

Federal Territories Minister Khalid Abdul Samad today clarified that there will still be public hearings if a proposed development runs contrary to the upcoming Kuala Lumpur Plan 2020-2040.

Khalid said a Bernama report quoting him as saying that there will no longer be a public hearing under the new Kuala Lumpur plan was "confusing and misses the point".

He said the reason there will be no public hearings for developments that are consistent with the soon to be gazetted KL Plan 2020-2040 is because there will be prior public hearings in the drafting of the plan.

The Shah Alam MP added that there was previously public hearings because there was no gazetted plan as the previous government had refused to gazette the KL Plan 2020.

"What I wanted to convey is the difference in procedure in a situation when there is a gazetted plan and when there is no gazetted plan.

"At present, we are in the process of completing the KL Plan 2020-2040. From now until the end of 2020, public hearing sessions will be held to prepare the plan.

"When the public hearings are completed, the KL Plan 2020-2040 is expected to be gazetted at the end of 2020.

"At that time, any development done in Kuala Lumpur that is in accordance to the plan won't require any more public hearings. This is because the public hearing was done before the plan was gazetted," Khalid said.

He said a public hearing will only be held if development goes against the plan and a traffic impact assessment and social impact assessment must be presented as it intends to modify the plan.

Elaborating on the KL Plan 2020, Khalid said it was only gazetted in October 2018 when the new government came into power.

"Therefore, in a situation where there is no gazetted plan, Rule 5 of the Federal Territory Planning Act 1982 (which provides for public hearings) was used," he said.

He added that Rule 5 did not require the presentation of a traffic impact assessment and social impact assessment.

"Developments that are done in the absence of a gazetted plan need to comply with Rule 5 but after it is gazetted, Rule 5 is no longer in use.

"The mechanism in the presence of a gazetted plan is different as I have explained. Therefore, I hope the confusion can be rectified," he said.