Numerous initiatives by KWP have made Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan highly vibrant, exciting and liveable cities.
VARIOUS sustainable initiatives, in line with environmental, social and governance principles, have been successfully implemented in the past year within Malaysia’s federal territories (FTs).
With an eye on prioritising the well-being and prosperity of its residents, these efforts are spearheaded and implemented by the Ministry of Federal Territories (KWP) and its agencies, namely the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), Putrajaya Corporation (PPj) and Labuan Corporation.
KWP is unique in the sense that it governs three key hubs: the FT of KL, the world-class capital of Malaysia; Putrajaya, the Federal Government’s administrative centre and Labuan, an international business and finance centre, as well as oil and gas hub.
These various initiatives include:
> MYMedic @ Wilayah: The aspect of health plays an important role in creating a healthy and competitive community, which is why KWP took the initiative to create the MYMedic@Wilayah programme.
The programme, which focuses on providing the best health services free-of-charge to FT residents, has served 7,305 patients, significantly exceeding its initial target of 4,000 patients.
> MYGrocer @ Wilayah: MYGrocer@Wilayah was introduced to help ease the burden of the people in the FTs, in coping with rising living costs. Under this programme, basic daily necessities are 5% to 20% cheaper as compared to the usual market price.
The goal was to add five new trucks and now a total of nine trucks operate across 73 low cost and public housing areas.
These include people’s housing projects (PPR) and public housing projects (PA) under DBKL’s purview.
> Residensi Prihatin Keluarga Malaysia (RPKM): An initiative introduced by KWP in 2021, RPKM aims to enable those in the low-income B40 communities and also young adults who have just started life in the FTs to have a comfortable residence with a safe, quality, healthy and prosperous environment.
KWP has successfully obtained planning permissions for 11,725 units spanning nine locations in Putrajaya under the initiative.
> Program Usahawan Muda Kota (UMK): KWP introduced UMK to help young adults who lost their income due to the Covid-19 pandemic, providing business spaces – in the form of neat and orderly kiosks with a clean and modern design – in strategic locations around KL and Putrajaya.
This is in addition to other assistance such as a reduction in monthly rent, as well as financing and guidance through cooperation with relevant agencies.
Open to all Malaysians above 18 who reside within KL and Putrajaya, with priority given to youths with a deep interest in entrepreneurship, the programme targeted 1,000 business spaces.
Thus far, 1,252 business spaces have been successfully created, surpassing the initial target.
A total of 1,053 entrepreneurs have benefited from the initiative since its implementation in 2020.
> MySmart Wilayah 2030: A blueprint to improve the quality of life and city governance, MySmart Wilayah 2030 outlines 25 policies encompassing seven major components: smart governance, smart economy, smart living, smart environment, smart people, smart mobility and smart infrastructure.
The blueprint was prepared by KWP, in collaboration with PLANMalaysia and the Ministry of Housing and Local Government to support KWP’s strategy plan for the FTs.
Amongst the efforts done under this blueprint is the collaboration with PPj to install a total of 475 CCTV units and 89 panic buttons last May to further improve the FT’s security features.
DBKL also successfully installed 3,000 CCTVs this year, bringing the total to 5,000 units in the KL city centre.
> Elevator replacement at PPRs and PAs: KWP puts FT residents’ needs and comfort first, which is why it focused on elevator maintenance in PPRs and PAs. The work of replacing 213 lift units in DBKL’s PPRs and PAs has started, with another 66 units to be replaced next year.
> Program Transformasi Gelandangan: Working with DBKL, KWP established the ‘Pusat Transformasi Gelandangan’ in 2016 to act as a temporary shelter for the homeless and at the same time, expose them to additional skills to ensure that they can return to society and contribute to socio-economic development.
The programme, which includes six modules, has benefitted around 3,700 homeless people at the Anjung Kelana and Anjung Kembara centres.
It also has the cooperation of government agencies and non-government organisations, in terms of organising the programme and donating food and beverages
Disaster management
> Disaster management in KL: Continuous, heavy rain that causes flash floods is not only troubling, but a persistent nightmare, for KL residents.
The resulting collapse of slopes also numbers among the natural disasters that damages property and worse yet, endangers the lives of the people.
To address these concerns, KWP and DBKL have drawn up and implemented an interim Flash Flood Action Plan KL 2022 that has 14 immediate steps, involving 31 flash flood hotspots, to curb the problem.
Shortly after, DBKL implemented three counter measures concurrently, which are the short-, medium- and long-term action plans to ensure its readiness in handling future floods.
The short-term action plan has been completed successfully, while the medium- and long-term action plans are expected to be fully implemented in 2025 and 2027, respectively.
As a result, flood hotspots have reduced to three areas in KL as of September 2022, while DBKL has also maintained 35 slopes from collapsing in identified locations around the city.
Effective disaster management in KL, which results in a reduction in cases of flash floods and landslides, can help the city achieve its aspiration of being free of such natural disasters.
