By AFIQ AZIZ / Pic By BERNAMA

The government could turn the Highland Towers site — which witnessed one of the worst disasters in the country’s history — into a housing project for the bottom 40% (B40) group.

The collapse of one of the towers in the high-end development in Ulu Klang 25 years ago resulted in 48 deaths, while hundreds more had to abandon their homes.

Housing and Local Government (KPKT) Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin (picture) said, however, any plans to redevelop the site would be dependent on the land acquisition and other pending legal issues related to the units.

She said the first meeting of the Committee on Redevelopment of Highland Towers will be held at the ministry today and chaired by chief secretary Datuk Mohammad Mantek.

“I think it is premium land in town and it should not be continuously left abandoned, but instead be capitalised,” she told reporters in Putrajaya yesterday.

The Ampang MP said she had been trying to resolve the matter since five years ago, but to no avail — as the financial providers of the affected units could not provide the required information and the land had been placed under the Insolvency Department.

The committee will consist of various government agencies from the federal level to the state administration.

“If we can acquire the land, KPKT can use that as one of our developments — especially for the B40 group,” she said.

Asked on the risk of redeveloping a housing project on the site which is vulnerable to disaster, Zuraida said any development would be carried out according to the required speciation.

“We have to do all the necessary due diligence. The projects will have to follow certain conditions and comply with the building and housing (rules and regulations).

“I think it can be done because we do have a lot of projects on slopes in Ampang,” she said.

Other parties who are involved in the committee are the Environment and Natural Resources Ministry, Department of DG of Lands and Mines, Mineral and Geo- science Department, Drainage and Irrigation Department, and the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council.

Zuraida said KPKT is cognisant of the Mineral and Geoscience Department’s concerns as the land is at risk to landslides.

Meanwhile, she said the ministry would also review the policy on the duration before the government can take over abandoned housing projects.

“If the time period stated in the existing policy is too long, there might be a need to shorten it,” she said.

As of April 2018, Zuraida said 198 projects from 257 abandoned housing projects, mainly located in Selangor and developed by private companies, have been revived and completed.