The press secretary to the Federal Territories Minister has chided Taman Tun Dr Ismail Resident Association's (TTDI-RA) rejection of his boss' proposal for a "win-win" situation regarding the controversial development of Taman Rimba Kiara by Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan (YWP) and Memang Perkasa Sdn Bhd.

In a press statement, Zulkifli Sulong accused the TTDI-RA of choosing to "spin and tell half-truths" to support its demands and defended minister Khalid Samad's decision to continue with a scaled-down development project there.

He pointed out that the original objection was on the encroachment of the development on the park and the loss of green area and that the scaled-down version has resolved the problem.

"The original objection was, of course, the encroachment on the park and the loss of green area. There was the talk of the loss of flora and fauna and even threat to endangered species."

"Now that the scaled-down version no longer encroaches on the park, new issues are raised and are placed at the forefront. It is understandable that they choose to do that, I suppose, as a battle cry of 'Save the Car Park' is not as emotive as 'Save the Park'."

"The really tough part to swallow, for them I suppose, is the fact that with the scaled-down version there will be even more green areas and better landscaping than what exists today. And the park remains untouched and will be better maintained, courtesy of the developers," said Zulkifli.

He also dismissed the connection between the previous Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansur as chairman of YWP and his business partner who is also a board member of developer Memang Perkasa, which TTDI-RA had "dubbed the elephant in the room".

He added that the real "elephant in the room" is the 2017 development order (DO) which was ruled as legal and legitimate by the High Court in late 2018 which the TTDI-RA had ignored.

At the same time, Zulkifli said the projection of RM160 million profit for YWP from the project is mistaken; due to the project's scaling down, the profit will also be adversely impacted.

"And, for their information, when a project is scaled down, obviously the profits too will be scaled down! But I think they already know this but do not want to tell the whole truth, as that would make the minister look less sinister."

"It is obvious that when you scale down, the unit cost goes up leaving a smaller profit per unit. A lesser number of units further compounds the problem of diminishing profits, leaving far fewer profits than what was originally intended," said Zulkifli.

He then reminded them that the minister had also offered to cancel the deal if the RA is willing to fork out the compensation cost for Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL).

Zulkifli also brushed aside claims by TTDI-RA that building new homes for the longhouse residents there costs only RM25 million, saying that the figure is unrealistic.