SHAH ALAM – The Selangor government is requesting for an injection of funds from the federal government in the upcoming Budget 2024 to revitalise old towns and areas in the state.
Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari said it was necessary to ensure that the development of the areas could be combined with the pace of development in surrounding urban areas.
He said the old urban areas such as Petaling Jaya, Ampang, Gombak, Cheras, and Pandan, were developed in the 70s and 80s, with plans that are no longer suitable for the current needs of the population.
“However, its implementation involves a large policy and requires financial support from the federal government, in addition to approval and permission from the land owners,” he said at the Selangor-level Budget 2024 Roadshow, which was attended by Deputy Finance Minister II Steven Sim Chee Keong today.
Amirudin said the matter is one of the issues that the Selangor government hopes will be given due consideration during the tabling of Budget 2024 on October 13, in addition to infrastructure aspects, plans to address floods, and efforts to increase the people’s income.
He said that if the process of rejuvenating these old urban areas is not done, the economic value and potential in the area will continue to decrease.
Apart from that, he said one of the issues faced in old urban areas such as PJ Old Town is that the 99-year lease period will expire in a few years.
“Some of these lands are worth more than RM1 million per lot and in terms of the current economic activity, the traders may not be able to pay for it and that is an example of an issue that we need to address,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sim said Selangor was the last location for the engagement session of the Budget 2024 Roadshow, which until now has interacted face-to-face with approximately 8,000 participants and received a total of 10,000 responses through the Budget 2024 portal.
“We will look at all the feedback and suggestions received, including what was proposed by the Selangor Menteri Besar earlier, especially since Selangor is a state which has rapid growth and needs to explore new development areas,” he said. – September 21, 2023