KUALA LUMPUR: A decision on the government’s massive buyout of Kampung Baru land cannot be made just yet.
Federal Territories Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa said he would only issue a statement after being briefed by his officers at the ministry.
Annuar who clocked in at the ministry in Putrajaya said the decision should not take too long.
“Well, it won’t take very long, I’m a town planner by profession, so it shouldn’t be too difficult for me to digest. But give me a little time.
“I just came to the ministry, so I have to listen to the briefing and only then will I make a decision. We will keep you informed,” he added.
Asked if the project would be scaled down as it involved a buyout of 80ha of privately owned land, Annuar dismissed it, saying “nothing is too large.”
Annuar also declined to comment on the status of the controversial development in Bukit Kiara until he was briefed.
The buyout announced by his predecessor Khalid Samad was supposed to be finalised in June this year with a referendum based on the response from title holders whether to go ahead or not.
Kampung Baru residents had earlier expressed anxiety over the silence regarding the project since the political crisis began.
However Kampung Baru Development Corporation chief executive officer Datuk Zulkurnain Hassan said the proposal including the survey on landowners was to go ahead as outlined earlier unless he was told otherwise.
So far Zulkarnain said 60 per cent of 5,359 landowners had said yes to the government buyout of RM1,000 per sq ft (a payout involving a maximum of RM850 in cash while the remaining RM150 is to be delivered in shares under a special purpose vehicle).
Feedback from another 35 per cent of them is being sought while 5 per cent of them are against the redevelopment plans.
The redevelopment plans involving 120ha of the Malay enclave has been thrown about since the early 1970s.
Last year the government made its first formal offer to redevelop the enclave that involves 80ha of private land which is riddled with ownership and small estate disputes, as a whole.
Meanwhile Annuar clarified that he never asked for Parliament to be dissolved immediately, as reported by a news portal following a tweet by him.
"I tweeted: 'After the damage left by Pakatan Harapan government has been fixed and the Covid-19 epidemic is controlled, we hope the front door would be opened soon with the Parliament dissolved, as what has been asked for from the start by Muafakat Nasional. We will leave it to the people, how far the people want to gang up with DAP'."