PETALING JAYA: St Ignatius Church in Kelana Jaya here will be allowed to keep its car park, it was reported a little over a month after it was ordered to vacate the land to make way for a river-widening project.
Petaling Jaya city councillor John Leong said only a few bays would be affected by the project, The Star reported.
Leong said the issue was settled following a meeting with the Selangor irrigation and drainage department (DID).
“At the meeting, the church representatives and all concerned parties came to an agreement,” he was quoted as saying.
The lawyer representing the church, Joy Appukuttan, said the church was advised to apply for a temporary occupation licence for the land currently being used as an extension of its car park.
Joy said the church was still ironing out the details and would wait for the final plan by DID.
Last month, FMT reported that DID had cancelled the permission given to the church in 2012 to use the land in question.
The Petaling land and district office had sent the church a letter on Oct 29 claiming that the car park was squatting illegally on its land and, therefore, had run afoul of the National Land Code.
Although the department later admitted to having granted the church permission to use the land as a car park in 2012, it said that permission was rescinded and the eviction notice remained valid and in force.
Leong previously told FMT that the river-widening work around Sungai Kayu Ara was to strengthen surrounding slopes and increase the river’s capacity by 25% as part of a RM16 million flood mitigation project.
He said without the project, many homes upstream would continue to suffer from flash floods. According to Leong, one such incident in March saw homes flooded by foot-high waters.
