Friday, September 18, 2009

ZONE A OPEN DAY

We are planning to host a Zone A Open Day on 24 Oct 2009 for Zone A residents to get together and know each other. Also it will give us the opportunity to celebrate three major festivals: Hari Raya, Moon Cake Festival and Deepavali as well as a belated Merdeka celebration.

We are requesting for volunteers to help us do the planning on what activities should be included in the program. If you can offer your assistance, please contact Amajit at 012-207 1162.

However we will keep track of any H1N1 advisory notices issued by the Ministry of Health (MOH) which may affect or restrict this planned activity. We hope to host this event even if it has to be scaled down and/or restricted to low risk groups.

SECURITY SCHEME UPDATE


1. IMPORTANT CHANGE AT Jalan SS21/13 – Restricted Hours for Entry/Exit

The committee is testing the restricted hours of operation at BG3 (junction of Road 13 and Road 22). Starting from 28 September 2009, the BG3 gate will be opened Mondays to Fridays (except Public Holidays) between the following hours:

6.30 am to 9.30 am
11.30 am to 1.30 pm
4.00 pm to 8.00 pm

Residents affected during the closure hours can use alternate exits at BG2 (Chim’s) or BG1 (slip road between Road 3 and Road 1)

2. Visitor Pass Implementation

We will be implementing Visitor Vehicle Pass to all visitors coming in between 10.30 pm to 6.00 am. This will assist the security guards as they go about their surveillance round.

Expanding this system to cover the day shift will require more guards to man the other 2 entry/exit points or reducing the number of entry/exit points and/or deploying certain technologies like auto-gate and/or CCTVs.

3. New Security Gate Tags

We have been using recycled security gate tags (yellow) for new members.

Our new security gate tags will be bigger (6” by 6”) and more prominent for the security guards to take note of. We will be deploying these new tags starting 12 Sept 2009 over several weekends. Our deployment will be done street by street to the current active members.

The old security gate tags may be fixed to the back of the houses to help the security guards to identify members’ houses while patrolling the back lanes with exception of semi-detached houses.

4. Membership & Guards

Our membership has reached 360 members with another 10 members who have not paid the current period for July to Dec 2009. We appreciate if members who have not paid their subscription for July to Dec 2009 to pay their fees soon to help us with the cash flow.

Currently we have 3 guards per shift. We will be deploying a 4th guard for a split shift between 10.30 am to 10.30 pm to cover the more vulnerable hours.

We also appreciate your continuing efforts to recruit new members to join the security scheme. Our fee of RM40 per month is probably the lowest in this area.

Zone B2 with about 220 households and 80% participation is charging RM70 per month for their security services. Zone B1 with about 300 households is planning to charge RM60 per month to start their security services. Damansara Jaya & Bandar Utama are charging between RM50 to RM100 per month depending on the number of households & participation rate in each sector.

For new membership forms, please contact
Amajit Singh 012-207 1162 Bernie 012-333 8373 Mrs Lim 017-873 3266


5. Car Stickers

IMPORTANT NOTICE CAR STICKERS

ALL Residents (Members & Non-Members of Zone A security scheme) who have NOT got your car stickers. You can drop the application form into the DUROA Mail Box at the Dewan Serbaguna on SS21/12 and we will contact you when the stickers are ready for collection.

If you do not have the application form, please call Mrs. Lim at 017-8733 266 (Monday to Saturday between 10.00 am to 12.00 noon and between 3.00 pm to 5.00 pm). Thank you.

6. Use of Technology

We are also exploring the use of various technologies like CCTV and auto gate systems with deployment of access cards to complement our current security system. The use of such capital related items will require setting up of a sinking fund that can be used to replace these equipment once they have reached the end of their useful lifespan.

PROFESSIONAL HELP NEEDED

The DU Zone A Committee needs help from various professionals to assist our Committee on the key areas related to the expanded mission.

Residents who are geotechnical professionals to advise us on how and what to ask the State Government to do so as to stabilise the slope at Road 13.

Residents who have experiences in traffic dispersal systems to advise us on how to apply to the State Government to build an alternate road for residents of Kg Kayu Ara as our roads are not meant for traffic from Kg Kayu Ara.

IT professionals to assist us on setting a blog like those set up for Zone B1 and B2 as a communication tool to keep our residents informed of issues affecting our DU Zone A.

Social/Event Organisers to assist us to organise interesting activities for different age groups in DU Zone A,
Any other volunteers who can assist us in any area of our expanded role.

If you wish to volunteer, please contact any of the following persons:

Amajit Singh 012-207 1162 Bernie 012-333 8373
Leong KY 012-218 6409 Mrs Lim 017-873 3266

DUROA – Damansara Utama Residents & Owners Association

Our umbrella organization, DUROA, is currently focusing on the issues related to the new LITRAK upgrading project and the new proposed Uptown Development Project. Previously DUROA has been successful in relocating the night market in Uptown and other improvements within DU such as the par course in Zone B2 and Futsal court in Zone C.

Besides that, DUROA has also organised the annual Merdeka Celebration which is partially funded by MBPJ and the rest from its own limited fund (i.e. annual subscription of its members). Also DUROA had previously organised annual dinners for all Damansara Utama residents to get together and enjoy an evening of entertainment.

DUROA’s President is Rajes Raghavji and DUROA covers our Zone A, Zone B1 (area behind the Mosque up to Road 32), Zone B2 (from Road 34 to LDP) and Zone C (area behind BHP Petrol Station). Collectively, there are about 1800 households. Zone A represents about one third of the total households.

As DU Zone A comes under DUROA, we urge all DU Zone A residents to join DUROA by contributing a subscription of RM12 per year or RM100 for life membership. For the application form and payment you may contact:

Mr. Lim 012-3275 375 Mrs. Lim 017-8733 266

GREEN LUNG or More Courts?

Recently we learned of a project to build two new extra tennis courts within our only green lung. We already have two tennis courts there which we believe is adequate for our residents. Hence the DU Zone A Committee had lodged its protest/objections over the extra courts with the Mayor of MBPJ, ADUN for Damansara Utama, the two town councilors serving SS21 and the DUROA President.

We do not think there is need for extra tennis courts within PJ as there are adequate courts at the Kelana Jaya Sports Complex that appear to be under-utilized. We prefer to keep our current GREEN LUNG as is without further development.

Please write to us at duzonea@gmail.com and tell us what you think about preserving our green lung and what programs/projects that Zone A committee should focus on in the next 12 months.

OUR ENLARGED MISSION

The mission of the new DU Zone A Committee is to build a safe, caring and harmonious community. Its enlarged mission will include the following areas:

1. Security - remains as our No. 1 priority;
2. Keeping the only green lung in Zone A to stay green;
3. Getting pedestrian pavements repaired, especially at the slip road between Road SS21/1 and Road SS21/3;
4. Cleanliness Campaign to get rid of illegal posters pasted all over public utility posts etc;
5. Organising activities and projects to meet the needs of the various age groups within our community especially Senior Citizens;
6. Stabilising the slope along Road 13;
7. Getting an alternative road built for residents of Kg Kayu Ara (that sits on our side of the river) so that we can have a closed community; and
8. Assist DUROA on tackling the issues related to LITRAK upgrading project (next to the BHP Petrol station) and the new proposed Uptown Development Project which will directly affect our residents in DU Zone A.

Tackling some of these difficult challenges will not be easy but may take months or years to resolve as we cut through the bureaucratic layers of administration at council, state level and possibly Federal level.

DU ZONE A Committee – Initial Focus

The DU Zone A Committee started with tackling the security problem in Zone A which faced a declining membership from its high of 325 in 2004 to only 185 in early 2009. The Committee has been able, with a lot of cooperation and support from our residents, to reverse the trend. Currently we have 360 households who are members of the CGCS scheme. We will continue to work on improvements to the CGCS scheme. Please assist us in our drive to get more residents to join the CGCS scheme.

DU Zone A Committee

Beginning from September 2009, Zone A Security Committee, will be known as the DU Zone A Committee. It will operate under the umbrella of DUROA (Damansara Utama Residents and Owners Association) and will be responsible for all issues relating to Damansara Utama Zone A.