PETALING JAYA: A Kuala Lumpur MP has given the thumbs up to a PKR MP’s suggestion that Kuala Lumpur be returned to Selangor.
Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng said he found the idea “interesting”, adding that such a move would help streamline policies and development plans.
“Streamlining policies between Kuala Lumpur and Selangor will certainly benefit the central region,” he told FMT.
“We can have the first landmark Klang Valley City Plan that integrates green development and encompasses industrial, commercial and residential buildings.”
Lim said among the policies which could be streamlined between Kuala Lumpur and Selangor were those involving land zoning, flood mitigation, as well as commercial and industrial development.
He said streamlining policies for city planning could improve connectivity and public transportation in the Greater Klang Valley.
However, he said, thorough discussions with all stakeholders, including the Selangor royal family and the federal and state governments, were needed before any such plan could move forward.
Last week, Petaling Jaya MP Lee Chean Chung called for Kuala Lumpur to be returned to Selangor to create a new “mega metropolis” to streamline urban development and improve living conditions in the Klang Valley.
Speaking in the Dewan Rakyat, Lee said the “reunification” of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor would allow for more systematic urban planning.
The capital was made a federal territory in 1974 by carving out more than 200 sq km from Selangor.
However, former deputy federal territories minister J Loga Bala Mohan poured cold water on the suggestion, saying Kuala Lumpur was made the country’s capital due to its strategic location.
Loga Bala noted that the Klang Valley already provided strong socioeconomic growth for Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and the nation as a whole.
“Isn’t the Klang Valley already an extended metropolis?” he asked.