KOTA KINABALU: The High Court hearing on the proposed 15-storey building on Signal Hill against Kota Kinabalu City Hall, the Central Board, and the developer, has now been set for July 5, after having been postponed on a number of occasions.
Spokesperson of the four applicants seeking the judicial review, Ratna Arif, said they are looking forward to the finalization of the case, which was brought up by the applicants due to concerns of environmental impact and additional congestion that the development may bring about on the narrow access road.
Ratna said they were even more heartened after hearing from well wishers who were supportive of what they were doing as a matter of principle, good governance and mainly because the proposed development (if allowed to proceed) may have a devastating effect on the skyline of Kota Kinabalu City.
“Now that we will be seeing more cruise ships berthing at the Kota Kinabalu wharf, we are only going to show the world how greed is clouding our vision for a beautiful city framed by its ridges”, added Ratna.
“At DBKK’s hearing of objections to the Draft Kota Kinabalu Local Plan 2020, the mayor has told us that the Central Board could grant an approval to a rezoning when in fact the Central Board could not do such a thing without following the right procedures set out by law.
“The mayor has also stated in a newspaper article that DBKK had approved this development plan seemingly without the permission of the Central Board.
“We are very surprised at this as supporters have researched previous newspaper articles to prove that a number of times the Central Board, Minister of Local Government and Housing and even the Cabinet have insisted that the Central Board’s approval is necessary before DBKK or any other local authority can approve any development plan.”
Ratna also expressed disappointment over the excavation and construction works at the site mentioned.
“What is annoying is that the tower crane was installed in early June and sits ready on the site while the excavation and construction works appear to be proceeding as if there is no case to answer,” she said.