City residents who were forced to relocate due to the Kuala Lumpur Linear City project were today assured by the government that they will get the medium-cost houses promised to them four years ago.

Member of parliament Teresa Kok (DAP-Seputeh) this morning led 15 representatives from the three residential areas affected by the project to meet the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Pandikar Amin Mulia, at the Kuala Lumpur City Hall.

The residents came from Kampung Pasir Lama and Kampung Kicap on Jalan Klang Lama, and Brickfields.

Kok told the press after the meeting that the minister promised to find houses for all settlers in line with the country's Zero-Squatter Policy which hopes to eliminate squatters by 2005.

"[The meeting was] an achievement because [the affected residents] have been kicked around like a ball. At least the minister committed himself and the mayor (Mohamad Shaid Mohamad Taufek) was there," she said.

However the minister did not say where and when the affected residents will get their houses, she added.

In 1997, when the residents agreed to be relocated, the project developer KL Linear City Sdn Bhd promised to secure for them medium-cost houses below RM50,000 in Bukit Jalil and compensate each with RM300 every month for rental until their houses are completed.

However, the residents were left in a limbo when their monthly rental compensation stopped in May 2000 following the shelving of the Linear City project due to the economic crisis in 1998.

Worse, their houses were nowhere in sight. Instead, the Bukit Jalil plot on which their houses were supposed to be built is now occupied by a high-rise apartment.

List of residents

The mega project, linked to Kamarudin Jaffar — the former adviser of jailed ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim — and politically-connected tycoon Vincent Tan, was supposed to build the longest underground shopping mall in the world.

About 1,000 families in Kuala Lumpur were displaced by the project, including 200 families in Brickfields and along Jalan Kelang Lama.

Representative Ng See Chong said he will start collecting the names of residents involved and hoped they will call him to get their details recorded.

"We want to compile a list for the Kuala Lumpur City Hall so that the authorities can write to those affected and update them on what's happening," he said.

Those concerned can contact Ng at this number - 03-5891 0960 (at night) or Seputeh DAP service centre at 03-7983 6768.