BBRAeNEWS No.409 - Why is it wrong to park incorrectly.

Dear Residents,

Join www.facebook.com / BBRA KLANG

to find out why it is wrong to park incorrectly.

BBRAeNEWS No.400 - Follow Ups to The Kindergartens Issue.

Addressing the Kindergartens Issue Head-On.

"On 10th August,2011, the BBRA had followed up on the Jenaris Kindergartens Issue in a meeting held at the MPK Conference Room, MPK Klang, with representatives from BBRA, representative from residents,new Kindergarten operator, our Ahli Parlimen Klang YB Mr Charles Santiago and our MPK Ahli Majlis Mr Yew Boon Lye .

It was a very fruitful meeting. BBRA and all representatives together with the authorities touched on the longstanding illegal Kindergarten issue in Jenaris in addition to the new Kindergarten in Jenaris.

The MPK Counsillor Mr Yew Boon Lye promised to take up the issue in next MPK board meeting for a firmer action as per the law. It is going be around 3 years since BBRA have highlighted illegal Kindergarten issue in Jenaris.

Referring to the new kindergarten, the building license was approved and issued by MPK as the land was gazetted for Commercial purpose and the Kindergarten falls under 'Commercial' activity. Now BBRA's concentration is how to make the traffic flow and parking around safe and do not pose a danger for Jenaris and other BB residents.

At the meeting, the majority of the participants agreed that a new proposed traffic flow plan for the new building put up by new Kindergarten operator was insufficient. A proposal to engage a traffic consultant to further study and to get an independent and unbiased report on traffic flow was discussed and waiting for confirmation, since cost is involved.

MPK also proposed BBRA and Kindergarten operator to engage in direct dialog to resolved the traffic and parking issues.However BBRA requested MPK to continue facilitate the negotiation before issuing the license for kindergarten activity.

BBRA will keep the BB residents updated time to time.

The following was also posted by YB Charles Santiago in the Selangor Times on 12 th August,2011 as Kindergarden fail to allay traffic concerns

BBRAeNEWS No.387 - Now the Legendary Cows.

Are the Cows here to stay..?

Stray Cattle Issue - The stray cows problem could not be easily solved as the cattle owners had won their case against the previous landowners and were very adamant in not moving out..

BBRAeNEWS No.385 - The Kindergarten Issue

Six kindergartens too many

Today(20-7-2011), YB Charles Santiago and Mr Yew Boon Lye, the Councillor for Bandar Botanic, together with some MPK pesonnel, and several reporters from the various Press, met with the residents of Jenaris, Bandar Botanic on the arrangements of BBRA.


The major issue of the huge kindergarden as well as the other smaller kindergardens were discussed vehemently.

The following appears in the SELANGOR TIMES. a free weekly newspaper with a focus on cummunity news.

Six kindergartens too many by Brenda Ch'ng.

KLANG: Five kindergrtens, with another being built, are proving to be too many for a community with just 420 households. Residents of Jenaris Bandar Botanic are growing more frustrated by the daily traffic snarls in the mornings and evenings at the single entrance and exit into the neighbourhood.
"How the council could approve another kindergarten in this area is beyong comprehension." said resident Benjamin Phang. The 57 -year-old, who lives on Jalan Jenaris 8, said one kindergarten in a neighbourhood should have been enough. He said residential homes should not be converted for commercial pruposes, more so when the area is supposed to be a guarded community.
Echoing his sentiment on Wednesday was Bandar Botanic Residents Association (BBRA) committee member Lim Chin Beng.
"The council should come up with a solution for the traffic congestion immediately and stop approving commercial developments in residential areas." he said, adding that residents want a win-win solution to combat the traffic congestion.
However, he added that if traffic is manageable and smooth, there is no reason why the kindergartens cannot continue to operate.
The 65 year old resident has been living there for eight years and has been coping with the bad traffic conditions from day one.
According to Phang and Lim, development plans showed that the newest kindergarten is also being built on a plot of land that is not meant for commercial use.
However, the Klang Municipal Council (MPK) has denied this and maintains that the land is for commercial prupose.
"MPK approved the kindergarden and building because according to their records, only one of the existing kindergartens is registered and licensed", said councillor Yew Boon Lye. The four others are unlicensed and have been summoned by MPK.
In addition, MPK guidelines states that kindergartens cannot operate in the radius of 200m from each other.
Yew pointed out that MPK approved the sixth kindergarten because they didn't see any reason for rejecting the building plans for an empty commercial land.
But he acknowledged that the local council had made a mistake in not conducting a site visit to determine the suitability of kindergarten in the area.
Yew said he will call on MPK's Engineering, Planning and Building Department to conduct a traffic study in the area.
"It is unfair to stop or demolish the almost-completed building as they got a proper licence and approval from the council'" he said.
To expediate the traffic solution, Klang Member of Parliament Charles Santiago will set up a meeting between the council's engineering department, the residents association and kindergarten owners to resolve the traffic issues.
"This is poor planning on the part of MPK to impose restrictions on the new kindergarten and come up with an alternative route for the exit and entrance for the area.
"I cannot imagine how the residents can put up with daily flow of minimum 400 cars driving in and out of their housing area just to drop off and pick up children," Santiago said.

BBRAeNEWS No.383 - Haphazard construction a bane to residents

Dear Residents,

It is with great sadness that we highlight the plight of our residents from Jenaris who have been forced to live with the haphazard construction of a mega-kindergarten.

Tipper lorries have been frequently double parking on residential roads to unload sand and other construction materials without proper hoarding, barriers or barricades to warn pedestrians and vehicles of the impending danger.

And truth be told, we received an email from a resident who could not avoid a lorry as it made a sudden stop by the main entrance of Jenaris, causing an accident.

This recklessness of the contractor has even caught the attention of YB Charles Santiago, who has personally requested for a meeting to follow-up with MPK on the haphazard construction.

We hope that residents will take caution and continue to highlight such unsavoury practices of contractors to BBRA and MPK so that we can put a stop to such hazardous practices. Pictures of the haphazard parking of a lorry in Jenaris appear as follows.

Residents, please beware while driving.

The massive construction for a kindergarten taking place

Tipper lorry double park by main entrance of Jenaris, a hazard to motorist

The difficulty in navigating around the large lorry

BBRAeNEWS No.378 - Meeting with Indah Water Konsortium

Dear Residents,

We are pleased to announce that the dialogue session with Mr Gan of Indah Water Konsortium, Township Management Office (TMO) and BBRA is back on track. The said dialogue is on the outstanding sewerage issues that have been affecting some residents of various precincts.

Do note that the Dialogue Session has been confirmed for 10:00 a.m., 25 March 2011, Friday at Township Management Office, Bandar Botanic.

As this is a 'closed-door' event, we would like to remind all "affected residents" to contact their phase representative(s) directly so that BBRA can assist with the following-up on their issue or case.

We also invite residents who are new to this issue or have only recently been experiencing issues with their ground floor toilet to contact your phase representative before March 23, Wednesday, so that we can bring highlight the issues to Indah Water Konsortium.

BBRAeNEWS No.368 - Once again, the same culprits

Dear Residents,

It saddens us to read about news regarding open burning within our area. Yet, each time it happens, nothing is done by the local authorities to curb the problem.

In case you're wondering what caused the thick smoke last week in Bandar Botanic and its surrounding vicinity, please read the news report below which is a copy of today's Star.

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Thick smoke blankets Klang skies due to slash-and-burn method

Story and photos by EDWARD R. HENRY
edward@thestar.com.my

THICK smoke from a fire near Bandar Puteri, off the Kesas highway, blanketed the housing area and parts of Kota Kemuning and Bandar Botanic last week.

The fire was started by a farmer who had felled and burned the trees to plant vegetables.
Firemen had to dig trenches to prevent the fire spreading.

Several hectares of forest were destroyed in the fire and the peat soil is still smouldering and workers were busy clearing the land with an excavator.

Bandar Puteri resident S. Chandra, 30, said many people experienced breathing difficulty, chest pain and shortness of breath.

Still smoking: Chandra looking at the extent of devastation caused by the fire.

 

“Even until now residents are still going to clinics a week after the fire,” he said.

“People did not know whether to remain indoors or go out of their houses. The Department of Environ-ment (DoE) did not nab the culprits who caused the fire,” said the electrical engineer.

“The Department of Environment (DoE) should monitor the land to deter farmers from burning the vegetation again.

He said despite sending letters to the DoE, the Public Complaints Bureau (PCB), Klang Municipal Council (MPK) and the State Health Department nothing had been done to resolve the problem.

Chandra only received a letter from PCB officer Nur Ikram Aziz dated Oct 18, requesting more information on the specific location of the open burning but nothing was done to solve the problem.

Total wipeout: Shrubs and branches are all that is left after the burning.

 

Raja Ahmad Raja Duraa said DoE and MPK’s environment unit must cordon off the area to prevent people from going in.

“Our children are not well due to the smoke and we have incurred medical bills for this bad state of the environment,” the accountant said.

Mechanic Cheng Ho, 45, said this was not the first time thick smoke that enveloped the area.

“We have been having this problem for sometime and blamed the lack of enforcement for the open burning.

A doctor with a private clinic said he had seen an increase in the number of patients from Bandar Puteri and Bandar Botanic with respiratory problems.

DoE director Che Asmah Ibrahim said the owner had rented out the land to a farmer who resorted to the slash-and-burn method.

“Our initial investigation revealed that the farmer had planned to grow pineapples,” she said.

Che Asmah added that the culprit had been identified and action would be taken once the investigation papers were completed.

“There are still pockets of smouldering peat earth,” she said.

BBRAeNEWS No.366 - Getting to the root of the problem

Dear Residents,

It was a fruitful meeting by BBRA committee members En Nor Halim, Jacob Mathews, Jayakumar, Jacob Thomas, Lim Chin Beng, and BBRA member Andrew Sum from Jenaris, with Indah Water Konsortium (IWK) this morning at the IWK office in Southern Park, Klang.

Mr Gan, IWK Area Manager of Bandar Botanic and his assistant Dr Lee represented IWK.


The main concerns raised by Bandar Botanic residents were the outstanding flooding issue regarding the toilet sewerage, in particular the flooding of the ground floor bathroom toilet bowl after a storm. This results to a massive inconvenience for residents who are forced to use only the upstairs bathrooms.

BBRA is glad to note that IWK has acknowledge that there is a problem and have shown the plans that were submitted to them by the developer. They are also willing to work with BBRA to find a solution to this long outstanding problem.

We thank Mr Gan and his assistant Dr Lee for sharing their time with us to find a solution to this problem. While we wait for the follow-up session, we hope that all Bandar Botanic residents can remain patient until an amicable solution is found.

In the time being, we will keep you notified on the developments to come.

BBRAeNEWS No.345 - Our deteriorating pond

Dear residents,

Were we all fooled into believing that the beautiful lake with fountains and gazebos is actually a retention pond? Do we know that it has deteriorated to a point where fishes die, the water stinks, and it might end up as a smelly sewage pond?

Many residents have complaint to the authorities and the developer who promised to maintain this pond of ours. Yet, they have today failed to honour their word! They have failed to live up to their promise.

We need a sustainable environment, and we need your support in driving this message to the TMO that is ignoring us!

Below is an open letter by a BBRA member who had to bear with the stench of rotting fishes during a usual morning walk!

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"This morning I went for a walk and notice and counted not less than 10 dead fishes about 6-8 inches long in the area of Kiara and jenaris lake region. Some of the dead fishes are near the lake outlets at the Kiara end, towards the new Hospital region.

Obviously this is due to the deteriorating condition of the pond/lake.

My observation is that when when dead fishes appears in the Kiara & Jenaris region, with the jenaris Pump fountain already breakdown for a long, long time and the area from jenaris to Angsana waters do not circulates, dont you think more dead fishes will appears sooner or later?

I do not know what is TMO doing nowadays and they doesnt seem to bother at all over the contamination of the waters.

Oil patches appears also at the Angsana outlet lake end as well as other regions. There is no maintenance at all."

BBRAeNEWS No. 336 - Yet another accident where it shouldnt be.

Dear Residents,
Yet another bad accident where it shouldnt be.
-Contributed by Mr Lim/Angsana.

Yet another real bad collision accident against the same stationery bus parked where it shouldn’t be. They never learn. Over the last incident (BBRAeNEWS No.246 – Illegal and Wrongful Parking), it was mentioned and fore-warned. The MPK, the police & the Law did not do anything. It is an absolute disgrace. It is just another sneering contempt by those illegally parking on the main road, in front of the Low Cost Flats.

BBRAeNEWS No.335 - Cassia Rubbish Dump

Dear Residents Of Cassia and Other Precincts,
Bandar Botanic.

The Rubbish Dump at Jalan Cassia Utama.
-Andrew Sum


The road of Jalan Cassia Utama is slowly becoming a Rubbish Dump of Bandar Botanic and is becoming a laughing stock to visitors and outsiders. Are those in the TownShip Management and Local Town Council aware of this?

Recently a resident of Cassia wrote to me this:
Dear Andrew,

Jalan Cassia Utama is a one way street for vehicle to drive out to Persiaran Botanic. Hardly any vehicle uses the road because of its longer distance to get on to Jalan Langat. The road now has become a very deserted area and its an opportunity for people to abuse the surroundings of the road.

Issue 1Rubbish is thrown along side the road.

Issue 2Leaves clog up drainage outlets causing floods during rains

Issue 3Bus park along side the road blocking off half our the road

Issue 4Accident car park along side the road.

There will be more issues to come if nothing is to be done.

I suggest the following :

1. Open the road to two way traffic with sufficient humps to prevent speeding. If frequent car passes this road than it will deter such problems in the future.

2. As for the buses, they could park at the parking lots near the ‘99 Speedmart’ area but with proper signage mentioning the time allowable to park.

3. Get KKS(Kawalan Keselamatan Sentral) to check the owner of the accident car and immediately removed it

4. Get MPK to more frequently trim the grasses and sweep the leaves along this road.

All residents should be responsible of their own actions and stop treating Bandar Botanic like any other Taman.

Regards,

Ong

Cassia Resident