The MCA president met with six of the 31 traders and shop owners who were served the acquisition orders less than a month ago, here at his party’s headquarters.
He also asked the traders to come up with a memorandum with their concerns to hand over the SPAD.
Dr Chua said the first option is to push for a realignment of the tunnel track.
The second to ensure the traders and shop owners get first priority to back in after the MRT project related development in the area is completed. Factored too is the time needed for them to move out.
“I understand for such businesses to move in such a short notice, it could affect their income,” he said.
Dr Chua also suggested the traders to choose three representatives to meet with SPAD.
Choy Foong Meng, 55, a tenant on Jalan Sultan,said she was only served the acquisition order on August 11, the day Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad (SPNB) briefed traders, and only when she enquired.
The hearing date with the land office commissioner was yesterday and she was given two weeks to come up with the land valuation report and list down losses that will incur if she had to move her business.
“I hope to get at least two months extension. The land office said it is within their power to do so and they said okay but they told me it was Prasarana who said no,” she said.
SPNB, the owner of the KVMRT project had said it expects to complete the Jalan Sultan land acquisition exercise in four to six months despite strong opposition from the Chinatown community, who say it is a heritage area.
The Malaysian Insider had previously reported that the traders and shop owners were unhappy with the late notice and the rush for the land acquisition.
Chua admitted that Chinatown is a tourist attraction and it is unique because it reflects the Chinese culture but he had also defended the mega project.
“If we do not overcome this problem (traffic jam), in five years time, the whole of KL will be worse off than Bangkok,” he said.
Dr Chua added that during an economic council meeting yesterday chaired by the prime minister, he said the SPAD chief executive officer agreed to look into whether they can build the track without acquiring the land there.
“I don’t run SPAD. Some people just don’t bother to read newspapers you see. There was adequate publicity, public display for three months, I don’t know why you all missed it,” Chua said in response.
The affected areas previously announced are Section 4 and 6 of Kota Damansara; Pelangi Damansara condominium; Taman Tun Dr Ismail; Damansara Utama; Section 17/52 Petaling Jaya; Bukit Bandaraya; Jalan Bukit Ledang; Bukit Damansara; Taman Desa Aman; Taman Connaught; and Taman Koperasi. Chinatown was not mentioned.
Some of the traders had also attended the three-month long public display of the KVMRT alignment and was told that Chinatown would not be affected as the line goes underground.
Project development director Zulkifli Mohd Yusoff had stressed that the land had to be acquired to ensure the safety of Petaling Street residents, given the “very unpredictable” nature of tunnelling though the karstic limestone ground beneath Kuala Lumpur.
He said it was not possible to tunnel beneath existing buildings, given the risk posed to their occupants from sinkholes, pointing out that there were at least 10 such incidents during the Putra Light Rail Transit (LRT) tunnelling phase.
He added that work on the underground portion of the KVMRT will begin next year and should take four years to complete.
The SBK line will cover a distance of 51km, of which 9.5km will be underground. Seven of the 31 stations will also be underground, including one beneath the existing Klang Bus Stand near Chinatown.
SPNB has to acquire the land above the stations and tunnel before any subsurface work can begin as Section 44 of the National Land Code 1965 states that property owners not only have the right to the plot itself but also the air above and the ground below.
The KVMRT project is considered the largest infrastructure project ever undertaken in Malaysia and the first phase alone has been estimated to cost upwards of RM20 billion.
