COALITION for GOOD GOVERNANCE

c/o Empower 13, Lrg 4/48e, 46050 Petaling Jaya Tel: +603-77844977 / +603-77701475; Fax: +60377844978; email empower05@gmail.com

A Simple Guide To Use and Interprete The KL Draft City Plan (KLDCP)
A Step by step guide on how to use and interprete the Landuse and Intensity Maps in
the KLDCP.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Getting Started: To Locate Your Plot Of Land In The KLDCP.

Select the area of interest.
Locate this area within the KL City.
Take Volume 2, Part 2. (Landuse and Intensity Maps of the DCP)
Turn to the Index Plan at the front part of this Volume 2.
Match and locate your selected area of interest in this Index Plan
Note the Map number associated with the selected area of interest (say, Map
118).
Turn to the page containing this Map number (Map 118). (This map number is
indicated at the bottom right hand corner of each page
You will notice two maps of the same number, placed side by side. The map
on the left shows the landuse zoning, and the one on the right the development
intensity.
Locate the particular plot or plots of land you want to investigate in these two
maps.

What Landuse Category Is Your Plot Of Land?

10. The first map on the left tells you what purposes the plot or plots of land can
be used for. They will come under one of the 20 categories of land uses as
provided for in this DCP. Identify the particular use designated for the selected
plot or plots of land under investigation. Different land uses are given a
different colour code. These colour codes are found at the bottom of the page.
11. If you want to know more about the particular use designated to that plot of
land, then turn to Volume 2 Part 1 of this DCP. This document provides
explanation in detail of each of the 20 categories of land uses and each
category is given a number called the zoning schedule (ZS) number. For
instance, Residential Type 1 land use is given the number ZS8.0, whilst Public
Open Space ZS17.0. The listing of zoning schedules (ZS) for the 20 land use
categories is found in page 2.13 of Volume 2 Part 1.
12. Go to the particular zoning table associated with the land use category for your
plot of land (for instance, go to Table ZS8.0, page 2.74, for land designated as
Residential Type 1) to find out in detail what the particular plot of land may or
may not be used for.
To What Intensity Can I Develop My Plot Of Land?
13. To check for the intensity allowable for a particular development, the
measuring index provided in this KLDCP is in the form of either plot ratio or
persons per acre (ppa).
14. In general, plot ratio which is defined as the ratio between the total floor area
of a development and the area of the plot of land, is associated with
1

commercial land use. Whereas the persons-per-acre (ppa) index is used for
residential development.
15. Similar to landuse zoning map, the intensity map provides different colour
codes for different levels of development density allowed for a particular plot
of land. These colour codes are given at the bottom of the map (i.e. the
development intensity map, the righthand-side map).
Interpretation And Implications
Significance of this KLDCP to the People of Kuala Lumpur
A landuse zone is used to designate or control what a particular plot of
land may be used, so that it is compatible with its overall masterplan, with
its neighbourhood, and with its intended purpose. It is a transparent way of
development planning. It prescribes the uses not only for your plot of land,
but also for your neighbours and for the whole Kuala Lumpur City.
This method of development planning is meant to provide greater
transparency and greater certainty in planning for the future of Kuala
Lumpur.
The KLDCP provides the development prescription for every single plot of
land in Kuala Lumpur City. In sofar as development is concerned, it is an
all embracing document; it dictates what can be done or cannot be done to
every single piece of land in Kuala Lumpur. The people of Kuala Lumpur
must be sure that these prescriptions are good for Kuala Lumpur and that
they are good for the people: equitable, gender sensitive, disabled friendly,
sustainable, business friendly, and fair.
The critical questions are:
1. Have, and to what extent, the people of Kuala Lumpur been involved in
the creation of such an important document which would affect their life
intimately?
2 Have the content and intentions of this DCP been thoroughly explained
and reviewed by the people of Kuala Lumpur? Has the process been
participatory and people-oriented?
3. What if there are flaws in this document, how flexible or easily can
opinions be accepted and flaws be made good by the creators of this
document?
Development Intensity Made Simple
To understand the impacts of floor space or floor area of commercial
developments, the following approach may be used:
1. A conventional 3-storey shop office, usually has a size of 20ft by 75ft. It
will have a floor area of 20x75x3 sq ft = 4500 sq ft.
2. A row of 10 three-storey shops will provide 45,000 sq ft of floor space.
3. On average, in Malaysian context, the utilisation is about 250 sq ft of
floor space per employee. (That is, every floor of a shop office will
accommodate on average 6 employees). The row of 10 shops will likely to
house a total of about 180 workers.
4. If half of them come to work by car on their own, there will be 90 cars
coming to the area in the morning, and 90 carparks will be needed to store
2

these cars.
5. This broad approach to estimate the impact of commercial development
in an area may be used for most landuse designated for commercial office
nature.

For the impacts of residential developments, one may adopt the following
approach:
1. On average, the Malaysian household size is about 5 persons per
household.
2. To estimate the number of people likely to live in a particular area,
simply multiply the number of dwelling units by 5 persons per unit. Hence
an apartment block of 200 dwelling units will likely to house 1000 people.
3. On average, one can assume car ownership of one car per household.
And in that case 200 carparks will be needed and that about 200 car trips
will be generated during the morning commuting period as a result of this
development.
4. This simple approach may be used to estimate the total impact of a
particular housing development, to cross check whether the developer is
providing sufficient carparks for the tenants, and whether the development
is too dense in terms of traffic generation for the existing road system.
- end -