A DEVELOPER has been awarded the tender to upgrade the Bohol flood retention pond.
The developer has also received approval to develop the area adjacent to the land reserved for the retention pond.
Federal Territories Land and Mines Office (land registration sector) deputy director Mohd Firdaus Ibaruslan stressed that the arrangement is not a land swap deal.
“Besides forking out RM40mil to upgrade the pond, the developer still needs to pay RM41.7mil for the premium 10.5ha land it will be developing.
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“The developer is finalising details for the pond upgrade, expected to be completed in a month.
“The construction of the upgrade will take five months," he added during a media briefing in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday (May 16).
Mohd Firdaus said an additional of 0.85ha of land will be gazetted as land reserved for retention pond.
“The current land reserve does not include the space and water inlet and outlet of the pond.
“Additional land has to be use to cater for that,” he added.
StarMetro reported on April 29 that new development plans had emerged at Kuala Lumpur’s second-largest flood retention pond.
This was nearly a year after the Federal Government stopped a similar proposal by the previous administration to allocate the land to a private developer.
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PTGWP, in a tender notice at the beginning of the year, called for bids to design and upgrade the 63.45ha Bohol flood retention pond in Seputeh for alienation under Section 76 of the National Land Code (Act 828).
PTGWP published the tender notice on its website, inviting companies to submit bids for the project to facilitate the construction of a massive housing project.
Six plots of land totalling 10.85ha are being alienated on Lot 102996 for a development project consisting of Federal Territories Affordable Housing Project (Rumawip), residential condominium and Madani housing.
The Attorney General’s Chambers published a notice in the Federal Government Gazette on May 8, announcing the proposed revocation of the land reservation for public purposes under Section 64 (2) of the National Land Code (Act 828) for Lot 35309 measuring 24.79ha.
Mohd Firdaus said the current retention pond site is hilly and unsuitable to be made into a retention pond.
“The current capacity is 150,000 cubic metres, and we plan to upgrade it to 1.13 million cubic metres, which will increase the average occurrence interval (ARI) to 200 from the current 100 ARI.
“If we do not engage a developer, upgrading would be slow.
“This is because the Bohol retention pond is just part of the 40km local flood management plan from Serdang to Puchong by the Drainage and Irrigation Department (JPS)”, he said, adding the process might take one or two years.
According to the briefing, the pond will function as a retention pond and a recreation pond for surrounding development.
Upgrading the pond also subjects the developer to a 2-year defect liability period.
The pond upgrading project will also be fully borne by the developer.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Dr Zaliha Mustafa said the pond will be upgraded before any development occurs.
“The pond upgrade is needed to address flash floods in the area,” she said.
Zaliha added that engaging a developer for the project helped provide affordable housing, such as Rumawip and Madani housing, to the low-income group.
“This is in line with the government’s policy to create more affordable housing for the people so that they can live in the city comfortably.
“With the expensive land premium in the city, it is difficult to obtain affordable housing for the prices,” she said
