Many concerned citizens had a tough time making sense of how its 1,500 pages of maps and narratives affect their daily lives and their rights as city ratepayers, in order to effectively register their views and objections.
This exercise, originally a month-long only, was further extended twice as “prihatin rakyat” (people friendly) gestures. Even so, it remained a tall order for the relatively small number of “switched-on” community leaders to digest the plan and compile feedback. Many parts of KL remain “poorly represented”.
The minimum one-month public consultation period was first spelt out in our town planning laws almost half a century ago.
Since then, spatial planning (both structure and local plans) has gotten more complex, driven by exponential economic growth and escalating land use pressures.
Today it might be reasonable to...