PJ faces over-development, ageing infrastructure, says former councillor
Former Petaling Jaya city councillor Derek John Fernandez identifies three key urban planning challenges: development intensities exceeding the city's carrying capacity, ageing infrastructure, and a need to reassess market-driven development strategies. He calls for greater public participation, bet
PETALING JAYA (Oct 9): Petaling Jaya (PJ) faces a combination of development pressures, ageing infrastructure and planning challenges as the satellite city in Selangor continues to mature, according to former PJ city councillor Derek John Fernandez.
An expert in local government and planning laws, Fernandez identifies three key urban planning challenges: development intensities that exceed the carrying capacity of the city's 24,248.33-acre area; ageing infrastructure that is increasingly unable to support existing development and environmental pressures; and the need to reassess development strategies that are largely market-driven.
He says these pressures have contributed to traffic congestion, flooding, a lack of public open spaces, rising temperatures and a deterioration in quality of life. "The three most pressing urban planning challenges currently facing PJ are over development, infrastructure that is ageing and unable to support current development intensities and new environmental pressures, and unwillingness at policy level to reevaluate ineffective development strategies," he tells EdgeProp.
Fernandez also highlights gaps in public participation and access to planning information. He says residents need access to impartial and independent planning data to participate more effectively in decisions affecting development, the environment, quality of life and sustainability. Among the issues he identifies are insufficient access to relevant documents, and the treatment of plot ratios and densities as maximum levels without sufficient consideration of actual infrastructure capacity. He also points out that the period for public feedback on planning applications has been reduced from the original 21-day period to seven days.
At the same time, Fernandez acknowledges that PJ City Council (MBPJ) has a comparatively developed governance and planning framework, citing its numerous local and special area plans and opportunities for public participation. He points to the Special Area Plan (RKK) Section 13 (Draft 1) as an example of efforts to address deficiencies in earlier plans and improve the area's zoning, public amenities and supporting infrastructure. For urban rejuvenation, Fernandez identifies Sections 1 and 2, Section 51 and 51A, Section 52 and Section 13 as priority areas. Other parts of the city, he says, require infrastructure upgrades and should generally not be subject to higher development intensities until priority areas are addressed and reassessed.
He also calls for greater emphasis on mass public transport and smart infrastructure, while discouraging elevated highways that cut across urban areas. On housing, he says affordable housing could be integrated with higher-end developments, with pricing structures incorporating five years of prepaid maintenance to address developers' concerns and encourage greater social integration. For walkability, Fernandez proposes elevated walkways connected to LRT or MRT infrastructure, particularly around transit-oriented development areas. He says an earlier proposal for an elevated walkway connecting Old Town, Section 51, Section 51A, Section 52 and Section 13 should be reconsidered.
Looking ahead, he says sustainability and climate resilience will require lower development intensities, more public open space, smart infrastructure and measures addressing the needs of an ageing population. He also suggests discouraging data centres in built-up urban areas and promoting aged-care and independent-living housing zones.
