PRESERVING traditional Malay villages, housing poor residents in the city’s older flats and converting leasehold land to freehold are just some of the suggestions that Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) has received for its upcoming 2024 budget.
Home-grown: Zaiton watering the vegetable garden grown on a narrow strip of unused land. Photos: YAP CHEE HONG/The Star
KUALA Lumpur City Hall’s (DBKL) noble plan of community and urban farming was in need of an impetus, which as it turned out laid in the Covid-19 pandemic, as unwelcome as the disease might be.
The plan was kick-started and as a result, various unsightly sites in the city were turned into pockets of greenery.
StarMetro ventures to two community farms in the city that have been transformed by residents, some of whom have lost their jobs and are seeking alternatives in earning a living.
THERE is still uncertainty as to when life can return to normality in 2021.
In the first half of the year at least, virtual and online activities that had become the norm in 2020 may still be standard practice.
Taman Desa Residents Association (TDRA) chairman Wong Chan Choy said while appreciating the need to stay safe, the association remained committed
to ensuring activities continued offline too, bearing in mind its membership profile.
“We hope to resume some of
our normal activities in 2021 although we are aware that
Covid-19 will not evaporate into thin air, ’’ he said.
Wong hopes to bring relief especially to elderly folk, who as a high-risk group, have been confined to their homes for most of 2020.