KUALA LUMPUR: The redevelopment of Kampung Baru must be carried out carefully in stages to protect Malay land ownership in the more than 100-year-old urban village, said Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani.
He said the land owners and their heirs had expressed the wish to maintain Malay ownership of the 121.4ha area.
“We should not rush when it comes to developing Kampung Baru and it is best to wait for the right time.
“If we rush the redevelopment and the Malays are not ready, slowly the land will fall into the hands of the non-Malays,” he said after the Sirkulasi Kampung Baru 118 Tahun sharing programme at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) here.
Johari was one of the three panelists along with former deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Dr Suleiman Mohamed and Malay Agricultural Settlement honorary secretary Shamsuri Suradi.
The sharing session was moderated by UTM deputy vice-chancellor for student affairs, Prof Dr Durrishah Idrus.
Johari said it was crucial to ensure that the Malays were prepared in terms of economic, financial and purchasing power, so that they were able to maintain Malay ownership of the land.
The Titiwangsa member of parliament also said that to redevelop an area like Kampung Baru with a total of 1,350 plots was not a simple process.
“In order to redevelop the area, all the plots need to be amalgamated. However, if the 5,300 landowners and heirs do not share the same concept and belief in redeveloping the area, we will not be able to do so,” he said.
It was reported that despite efforts to secure clean titles for the redevelopment, Kampung Baru Development Corporation only managed to get the consent of the owners of 18 plots.
The Kampung Baru Detailed Development Master Plan was launched in 2015.
According to the plan, the redevelopment of Kampung Baru will be carried out in three phases in 20 years, which will cost an estimated RM43 billion, out of which which RM30 billion will be used for construction.