The ball is now in the court of the Gombak district land office and Selangor Development Corporation (PKNS) as Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim instructed the departments to verify the status of the-claimed TNB reserve land located right beside Kampung Terentang. A decision will be made in two weeks time.
Should TNB appropriate the land in question for its 275kV high-tension wire project, it will then bypass Kampung Terentang, which will be the desirable outcome for local residents.
“After two weeks, I will decide either to proceed with the original route to cut across the village or to take the alternative one on the reserve land,” Khalid said in the mini exco meeting, which 10 TNB representatives and 8 village representatives attended.
Khalid said the state government’s primary concerns are the social impact of such high-voltage cables, as well as the possible demolishing of residences at Kampung Terentang.
“Reserve land since 1971,”
An anonymous whistleblower recently tipped Rawang assemblyperson Gan Pei Nee about the existence of a reserve land plot located at the industrial estate right beside Kampung Terentang, which dismissed TNB’s claim it must construct the towers at the heart of the village.
Gan today showed the house a Lembaga Letrik Negara (the then TNB) draft plan dated in 2001 that earmarked two plots of land at Rawang Perdana Industrial Estate as TNB reserve.
She too showed evidence of a Rawang town plan of yore to prove that the plots were alienated since 1971.
Gan and partners pointing at the 1971 Rawang Town Plan
TNB CEO Che Khalid Mohamad refuted the claim, said they did not have any records of such land.
They questioned the validity and source of Gan’s documents.
Gan when speaking to media after the meeting, said all of her documents had the seal of the Gombak District Land Office.
“However, TNB does not state any reasons why they do not have a record,”
2001 documents labeling a plot of P7 1682 as TNB reserve land.
A factory that built on the reserve land
TNB claimed that the 1.6km alternative route would go on land already inhabited by three factories, for which compensation for land acquisition would be huge.
“Ridiculously there is a factory named Bando that built on the reserve land and is granted a CF,” Gan said.
“The State Secretary Ramli Mahmud said the issue was discussed in the State Assembly during BN’s regime and decision was made due to the reason of the land was not being utilised by TNB,”
“The MB then asked PKNS and Gombak District Office to find out who owned the lots prior before it was granted to Bando,”
Gan said based on the village committee’s observation, the factories only penetrate part of the lands.
The consultant to the villagers Tang Ah Chai said the electricity giant does not seem to be willing to pay the compensation.
Gan and Tang
“No such land,”
Meanwhile, a source from TNB said it is impossible for them to trace the record of the reserve land since they never own one.
“You can’t prove you are owning millions if you don’t have millions,”
Answering claims that TNB does not have the approval to build 275kv cables in the village, he said the court has ruled to allow them to upgrade the 60kv cables across Kampung Terentang. Building 275kv cables will fall under ‘upgrades’.
“But we are giving the opportunity to PKNS and Gombak District Office to search for the proof of (TNB’s ownership), if there is any.”
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