A view of St Ignatius Church’s carpark and Sungai Kayu Ara (left, beyond the fence) where flood mitigation works are being carried out. — Filepic
Sungai Kayu Ara flood mitigation project not expected to affect facility much
The issue of St Ignatius Church losing its carpark due to a flood mitigation project at Sungai Kayu Ara in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, has been settled.
Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) Zone 7 councillor John Leong told StarMetro that the church carpark could remain and that only a few bays would be affected by the river project.
He said the issue was settled during a meeting with Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) officials at the Selangor state secretariat building in Shah Alam.
“The project will take place without compromising on the safety aspects of the river banks.
“At the meeting, church representatives and all concerned parties came to an agreement.”
Leong said the project has been stopped for about a month and will continue after Christmas.
Lawyer Datuk Joy Appukuttan, who represented the church on the matter, was pleased with the outcome of the meeting.
“We came to an agreement on the use of the land for the project.
“Some land will be taken for the project as reserve and some will be returned for use as church parking bays once the project is over,” he said.
Joy said the church has been advised to apply for a temporary occupation licence (TOL) for the land used as a carpark.
“We are still ironing out the details and will wait for the final plan by DID,” he said, adding that the church welcomed discussions on the matter.
Joy said the church was in dire need of parking bays as it faced the Damansara-Puchong Highway (LDP) and the neighbourhood it was in was saturated.
In a StarMetro article on Nov 20, it was reported that the church was losing its carpark following the revocation of a 2012 approval by DID for the church to temporarily use the reserve land.
In a letter to the church dated Nov 18, DID stated that the conditional approval it granted via its letter on June 5 in 2012 had been revoked.
