The proposed redevelopment of Waller Court Flats- Local Council needs to discuss with the residents before any redevelopment takes place.
Media statement by M.Kula Segaran DAP National
Vice Chairman and MP for Ipoh Barat at Majilis Bandaraya Ipoh on 29thJune
2012.
The proposed redevelopment of Waller
Court Flats- Local Council needs to discuss with the residents before any
redevelopment takes place.
Waller Court , one of the most well known land
marks of the City, will go up for
redevelopment soon.
Waller Court was constructed in 1964 with 519
flats and with 36 shop lots. These flats are mainly with single and double room
units. These flats cater exclusively for the lower income group with monthly
rentals of only RM70 and above. We are given to understand these flats are
presently only 60% occupied.
Due to lack of maintenance and age, the Waller Court flats need more than a face
lift.
In 2002, the Local Council (MBI) came out with
a proposal to redevelop these flats and relocate the residents to Lahat.
The DAP then led a
“Save the Waller Court Campaign” and the following resolutions were adopted at
a residents’ meeting, namely:-
1. That we the tenants object to the redevelopment of Waller Court into a commercial complex and the forced eviction of occupants to elsewhere
2. That we disagree with the City Hall suggestion for the tenants to purchase the proposed RM35,000 low cost houses at Lahat Baru as the proposed location is inconvenient and far from the city.
3. That we urge DBI to renovate repair and maintain the Flats and continue to rent or sell them to the present tenants.
We handed over the above resolutions to the local Council and after a few meetings, the Local l Council agreed to abort the plans to redevelop this area.
1. That we the tenants object to the redevelopment of Waller Court into a commercial complex and the forced eviction of occupants to elsewhere
2. That we disagree with the City Hall suggestion for the tenants to purchase the proposed RM35,000 low cost houses at Lahat Baru as the proposed location is inconvenient and far from the city.
3. That we urge DBI to renovate repair and maintain the Flats and continue to rent or sell them to the present tenants.
We handed over the above resolutions to the local Council and after a few meetings, the Local l Council agreed to abort the plans to redevelop this area.
In early March 2012, the DAP led by my Political Secretary Sdr.
Chong Chee King, Jermy Chuah and Sdr. Wasoo (political secretaries) with
a team of helpers and volunteers did a survey on the proposed redevelopment of
Waller Court over two months period. The Waller Court Committee led by
Sdr. Wong Wai Fook and his committee assisted us in the survey.
We are here today to with the people of Waller
Court to hand over a memorandum of the survey on this issue to the MBI.
The residents of Waller Court want to know the
detail of the proposed redevelopment of Waller Court . There has been no direct
discussion with the residents on the redevelopment exercise.
Among the issues that MBI needs to explain
are:
1) Who will redevelop the Waller Court flats?
2) during the process of redevelopment where
will the tenants be located?
3) how long will the redevelopment take place
and will the flats be rented or sold to the residents?
4) Why as to date there has been no discussion
with the tenants and the MBI. All information on the redevelopment has been
from news papers.
We are now told that to redevelop the Waller
Court , it will cost over RM30 million.
The people of Ipoh would like to know:
1)
Who will be forking out the RM30 million?
2)
As the Waller Court is sitting on 8 acres of prime real property land worth
millions of ringgit, how will the rate
payers of Ipoh benefit from this redevelopment?
3)
Who will be redeveloping Waller Court ? If private companies are involved, the public need to be informed of the details
of the terms of the redevelopment.
4)
will Full details of the redevelopment be disclosed?
The MBI must be custodian and acting for the
benefit of the rate payers of Ipoh . MBI must adhere to the requirements of
Local Agenda 21 and have open discussion on the proposed redevelopment of
Waller Court soonest possible.
The DAP is more than willing to assist
all in this process.
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