Jinjang Selatan Tambahan residents seek appropriate compensation to vacate

KUALA LUMPUR: Residents of lot 9714 in Jinjang Selatan Tambahan here want the developer and the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to pay appropriate compensation should the two parties require them to vacate the land for development purposes.
Jinjang Selatan Tambahan Social Development Association chairman S. P. Karuppiah said the 525 residents had received letters from DBKL three weeks ago, ordering them to move out by this week.
"The compensation amount as promised in the letter is not enough. The temporary rent pending completion (of our purchased) permanent houses is RM600 per month and ex-gratia payment for moving out is RM1,000.
"We want the rent and the ex-gratia payment to be increased to a minimum of RM900 and RM3,000 respectively, because of the high cost of living. We cannot rent a family house in the city area with RM600," he told a press conference here today.
Also present was DBKL Advisory Board member Datuk Wilson Lau Hoi Keong, who is also Gerakan Public Complaints Bureau chairman.
Karuppiah said most residents used to have Temporary Occupation Licence (TOL) when they were relocated from Batu Caves, Kepong and Jalan Ipoh in 1967.
"In 1973, the plot 9714 was turned into a housing area under the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur Land Office and the residents had since been paying annual land tax and quit rent," he said.
For that, Karuppiah said both the developer and DBKL need to compensate the residents with an appropriate amount, considering that they had been paying tax for over 40 years.
The residents had been holding various sessions to object and raised the compensation issue through dialogues with the two parties since they found out about plans for development in 2013, he said.
Meanwhile, Lau said the association would hand over a memorandum to DBKL's Economic Planning and Development Department on Tuesday.
He said the rights of the residents who had been living there for more than 40 years must be defended and they must be awarded appropriate compensation if the developer and DBKL aspire to develop the land. — Bernama