Giving Life to Subang Jaya's Gated & Guarded Scheme

Tuesday, 2 March 2010

Giving Life to Subang Jaya's Gated & Guarded Scheme

Selangor State Government spells out a more people-friendly implementation of Gated & Guarded scheme

RESIDENTS of existing gated and guarded schemes and those who are planning to propose its implementation in their respective areas will now find more room to maneuver, if and only if, they adhere to the elaborated guidelines spelled out.
Subang Jaya Municipal Council committee chairman on G&G, Roslan Shahir said the State Government appreciated residents’ needs to keep them safe through the scheme.
“We should allow G&G but there are laws that hinder its implementation. These include the National Land Code 1965, the Strata Titles Act 1985, the Town and Country Planning Act 1976, the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Act 1966, and the Street, Drainage and Building Act 1974.”

“State Exco for Housing, Building Structure Administration and Squatters Iskandar Abdul Samad recently chaired a meeting (January 26) to finalise the guidelines on G&G in Selangor,” he said.
Roslan said residents could now propose a G&G scheme in their area if they had 85% consent from house owners or tenants living within the area they wished to implement G&G.
“The minority however have to be accommodated as well. The rights of the minority in any area proposed for G&G have to be considered and they should not be hassled.”
“Tenants of houses within the proposed G&G scheme have a voice as well in the whole plan. The State Government has also recommended that property owners to be asked as well if the house is tenanted,” he said.

Manual Drop Gates to be allowed
Manually operated drop gates will continue to be allowed for Gated and Guarded schemes.
“All drop gates which are manually operated by security guards will be allowed under the G&G scheme. Automated drop gates will however be disallowed.”
“The guidelines spell out that these structures cannot be placed on the road. It can be erected on road shoulders,” MPSJ councilor Roslan Shahir who chairs the council’s committee on G&G said.
He said if residents wanted to put such structures on the road, they would have to apply for a Temporary Occupation License, which can be obtained within a day if all necessary requirements complied with Federal guidelines.
“The requirements include having guards from security companies registered under the Home Ministry and a registered Residents Association is the applicant.”
“MPSJ also requires residents associations operating a G&G scheme to register with the local authority and also to indemnify MPSJ from any responsibility,” he said.
On permanent closure of roads, Roslan said MPSJ would allow it, if the access points were not main roads.
“Any closure of roads must not land up creating a hassle to residents,” he said, adding that if such closure hampered the movement of emergency services like ambulance, bomba and police, immediate action would be taken to remove it.
Roslan also said that roads within an already G&G area were not permitted to be closed off.

Gated & Guarded Scheme not permanent
ALLOWING the implementation of a gated and guarded scheme in Subang Jaya is not a blanket rule to make it a permanent feature.
MPSJ councilor Roslan Shahir who chairs the committee on G&G said the scheme was not permanent.
“That is why Temporary Occupation License (TOL) is issued for structures.”
“We will only encourage G&G in new development schemes,” he said.
Residents of existing housing areas must work together with MPSJ before implementing their G&G.
“Problems arise when the community goes ahead with their plan without consulting MPSJ first,” Roslan said.
He said MPSJ had already gone around the different neighbourhoods to take photographs of existing G&G schemes in the municipality. These photographs, he said, would be submitted to the State Government.
“I will be calling for a meeting with all the State Assemblymen and sub-committees on G&G in Subang Jaya to brief them on the latest development on this matter.”
“I will after that engage with residents associations on this matter as well,” he said.

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