A bridge, fresh paint and ‘like Deepavali’: Wangsa Sari PPR in KL gets a makeover

The Wangsa Sari People's Housing Programme in Kuala Lumpur is undergoing significant improvements, including the construction of an 18-meter-long pedestrian bridge that will provide safer access to local amenities and schools by the river for its 1,061 residents.

Initiated by MP Zahir Hassan following safety concerns, the project is part of a larger RM2.24 million refurbishment effort to enhance the living conditions within the flats, overseen by Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL).

Public feedback has been integrated into the city's upgrades, increasing transparency, according to Federal Territories Minister Hannah Yeoh.

Residents express satisfaction with these developments, hoping for eventual opportunities to purchase their homes.

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 — The park is just across Sungai Bonus, but for children at the Wangsa Sari People's Housing Programme here, getting there has meant balancing along water pipes.

By the end of this year, they should be able to simply walk across, with an 18-metre-long, two-metre-wide pedestrian bridge expected to be completed behind the 21-storey block.

It will lead to Padang Wangsa Sari and reduce the need for residents to use the narrower Jalan 2/27A.

Resident Mohd Fazil Md Noor, 56, said it would also give children a safer and easier way to get to SK Wangsa Maju Section 1, where some currently walk or cycle.

“We really need the bridge that is going to be built because once it is completed, it will become the main route for our children to get to and from school.

“The school is less than 5km from this PPR. If they cross the bridge, it will be much closer, perhaps cutting about 1km off the journey. Some of our children walk or cycle to school, so building this bridge is really ideal. This is something we have been hoping for,” he told Malay Mail when met today.

The idea began when Wangsa Maju MP Zahir Hassan visited the area in 2023 and found that residents of the flats had limited access to recreational facilities despite a park being across the river.

“After winning the 2022 general election, when I came here in 2023, we walked around the area and found that there were not enough facilities.

“We saw that there was a park across the river and asked how we could make maximum use of the park,” he told Malay Mail during a visit today.

Zahir said he later raised the matter with Kuala Lumpur mayor Datuk Fadlun Mak Ujud, after learning that children had fallen into the river while attempting to cross using the water pipes.

“When the children had fallen, they did not think of it as a tragedy because they fell into the water, but it was dangerous. We were worried about what would happen if the water level was high,” he said.

Fadlun said Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) had allocated an additional RM200,000 for the bridge and would try to expedite its construction for completion before the end of the year.

Once complete, the bridge is expected to serve all 1,061 residents and encourage greater use of the park for exercise and community activities.

Another resident, Jasbee Kaur, 67, who has lived at the Wangsa Sari flats – commonly known by the abbreviation PPR for Projek Perumahan Rakyat – for 19 years, said residents had welcomed the bridge, which she believed would make it easier for children to return home from the park.

“The bridge is needed. When the children are tired, they will have a shortcut to come home and it will be easier for them to enter the taman next door,” she said.

However, 53-year-old resident Nurazlina Abd Aziz said safety concerns would remain once the bridge is completed, particularly with motorcycles parked behind the block.

“Many motorcycles are parked at the back, so there may be an increase in theft. If the children want to go to school, yes, but we also have to think about their safety,” she said.

The bridge is part of a wider facelift for Wangsa Sari PPR, which was built in 2008 and has 272 residential units housing about 1,061 residents.

The block, previously painted entirely white, now has a two-tone beige and white colour scheme under a RM2.24 million upgrading project covering the building and its basic infrastructure.

Of the allocation, RM1.1 million was spent on repainting the building, RM904,000 on replacing the sub-main cable and main switchboard, RM136,000 on road resurfacing and RM101,000 on upgrading the fire safety system.

Federal Territories Minister Hannah Yeoh said one of the reforms introduced was allowing MPs, through a committee set up to monitor DBKL spending, to provide feedback on how the city hall allocates funds.

“With feedback from all these MPs, our spending is more transparent and also meets the needs of residents. So, we do not have wasteful expenditure because all of this involves basic infrastructure needed by residents,” she said.

She said the repainting was also intended to improve the dignity of PPR residents, with the new neutral colour scheme selected by Fadlun.

“I agree that PPR buildings are usually painted in too many colours, to the point that they look like kindergartens. But now, all the colours are neutral and look nice,” she said.

Fadlun said DBKL had completed almost 70 per cent of upgrading projects involving the city’s 64 PPR and public housing schemes under the RM300 million allocation this year.

He said expenditure was expected to reach 90 per cent of the allocation by year-end, with about RM23 million to be carried forward to complete the remaining projects.

Fazil, who has lived at the PPR for about 15 years, said the makeover felt like a festive occasion.

“Our buildings have also been repainted. It feels like Hari Raya, everything looks new, Alhamdulillah. The wiring and lights have also been replaced, and we have seen the improvements,” he said.

Jasbee, asked about Fazil’s Hari Raya description, laughed and gave the makeover her own festive comparison.

“For me, it’s like Deepavali!” she said.

She said the improvements had also brought a renewed sense of community among residents, whom she described as cooperative and supportive of one another.

“Our residents are very cooperative. We stick with each other,” she said.

Still, she has one request for the government.

“We want the government to open up the opportunity for us to buy these homes. We are still renting them. We need to be able to buy them,” she said.

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吉隆坡的旺沙沙里人民房屋计划正在进行重大改进，其中包括建造一座 18 米长的行人桥，这将为 1061 位居民提供更安全的通道前往河边的当地便利设施和学校。

该项目由国会议员扎希尔·哈桑出于安全考虑而发起，是吉隆坡市政厅 (DBKL) 监督的一项耗资 224 万令吉的更大规模的公寓翻新工程的一部分，旨在改善公寓内的生活条件。

联邦直辖区部长杨巧双表示，公众反馈已融入城市升级改造中，提高了透明度。

居民们对这些进展表示满意，希望最终有机会购买他们的房屋。

吉隆坡，10 月 7 日——公园就在 Sungai Bonus 河对岸，但对于这里 Wangsa Sari 人民房屋计划的孩子们来说，到达那里意味着要沿着水管保持平衡。

到今年年底，他们应该就能直接步行穿过去了，一座长 18 米、宽 2 米的人行天桥预计将在 21 层高的楼房后面建成。

它将通往巴东旺沙沙里，并减少居民使用较窄的 Jalan 2/27A 的需要。

56岁的居民莫哈末·法兹尔·莫哈末·诺尔表示，这将为孩子们提供更安全、更便捷的方式前往旺沙玛珠小学第一区，目前有些孩子是步行或骑自行车前往那里。

“我们非常需要这座即将建成的桥梁，因为一旦建成，它将成为我们的孩子上下学的主要路线。

“这所学校距离人民组屋不到5公里。如果孩子们过桥，路程会更近，或许能缩短1公里左右。我们有些孩子步行或骑自行车上学，所以修建这座桥真是太好了。这正是我们一直期盼的，”他今天接受《马来邮报》采访时说道。

这个想法源于旺沙玛珠国会议员扎希尔·哈桑在 2023 年访问该地区时发现，尽管河对岸有一个公园，但公寓居民却很难使用休闲设施。

“在赢得 2022 年大选后，我于 2023 年来到这里，我们走访了该地区，发现这里的设施不足。

“我们看到河对岸有一个公园，就问我们如何才能最大限度地利用这个公园，”他今天在参观时告诉《马来邮报》。

扎希尔表示，后来他得知有孩子试图通过水管过河时掉进了河里，便向吉隆坡市长拿督法德伦·马克·乌朱德提出了此事。

“孩子们落水后，他们并没有觉得这是一场悲剧，因为他们只是掉进了水里，但当时的情况很危险。我们担心如果水位很高会发生什么事，”他说。

法德伦表示，吉隆坡市政厅（DBKL）已为这座桥梁额外拨款20万令吉，并将努力加快建设进度，争取在年底前完工。

建成后，这座桥预计将服务于所有 1,061 位居民，并鼓励更多人利用公园进行锻炼和社区活动。

另一位居民，67 岁的 Jasbee Kaur，在 Wangsa Sari 公寓（通常简称为 PPR，即 Projek Perumahan Rakyat）居住了 19 年，她说居民们对这座桥表示欢迎，她认为这将使孩子们更容易从公园回家。

“这座桥很有必要。孩子们累了的时候，可以抄近路回家，而且更容易进入隔壁的公园，”她说。

然而，53 岁的居民努拉兹琳娜·阿卜杜勒·阿齐兹表示，桥梁建成后，安全问题依然存在，特别是街区后面停放的摩托车。

“很多摩托车都停在后面，所以盗窃案可能会增加。如果孩子们想去上学，那当然可以，但我们也必须考虑他们的安全，”她说。

这座桥是 Wangsa Sari PPR 更大规模改造工程的一部分，该 PPR 建于 2008 年，拥有 272 个住宅单元，可容纳约 1061 名居民。

该建筑以前通体漆成白色，现在根据一项耗资 224 万令吉的升级改造项目，该建筑及其基础设施将采用米色和白色双色调配色方案。

在拨款中，110万令吉用于重新粉刷建筑物，90.4万令吉用于更换支线电缆和主配电盘，13.6万令吉用于道路重铺，10.1万令吉用于升级消防安全系统。

联邦直辖区部长杨巧双表示，推行的改革之一是允许国会议员通过一个为监督吉隆坡市政局支出而设立的委员会，就市政厅如何分配资金提供反馈意见。

“有了这些议员的反馈，我们的支出更加透明，也更能满足居民的需求。因此，我们没有浪费性支出，因为所有这些都用于居民所需的基本基础设施建设，”她说道。

她表示，重新粉刷也是为了提升人民组屋居民的尊严，新的中性配色方案是由法德伦选择的。

“我同意，人民组屋通常被涂成太多颜色，以至于看起来像幼儿园。但现在，所有颜色都很中性，看起来很漂亮，”她说。

法德伦表示，吉隆坡市政局今年已完成该市64个人民组屋和公共住房计划升级改造项目的近70%，这些项目均在3亿令吉的拨款范围内。

他表示，预计到年底支出将达到拨款的 90%，约有 2300 万令吉将结转至下一年完成剩余项目。

在人民组屋住了大约 15 年的法齐尔说，这次改造感觉就像是一场节日盛事。

“我们的楼房也重新粉刷过了。感觉就像过开斋节一样，一切都焕然一新，感谢真主。电线和灯具也都更换了，我们看到了这些改进，”他说。

当被问及法兹尔对开斋节造型的描述时，贾斯比笑着用她自己的节日比喻来形容这次造型改造。

“对我来说，这就像是排灯节一样！”她说。

她表示，这些改善措施也增强了居民之间的社区意识，她形容居民们互相合作、互相支持。

“我们的居民非常团结互助，我们互相支持，”她说。

不过，她对政府有一个请求。

“我们希望政府能给我们提供购买这些房屋的机会。我们现在还在租房住。我们需要有能力购买它们，”她说。

阿扎琳娜认为针对女学生的暴力行为中存在“危险的厌女倾向”，并敦促对此进行更深入的调查。

不警告，只逮捕：市长表示，吉隆坡市政局就是这样处理停车拉客者的。

益普索民调显示，马来西亚Z世代人群对禁止儿童使用社交媒体的支持率大幅上升。