After criticism from Petaling Jaya residents towards the controversial Kinrara-Damansara Expressway, Putrajaya has decided to revisit the RM 2.42 billion project. This was revealed by anti-Kidex residents group who met Works Minister Datuk Fadillah Yusof last night where they briefed the ministry and the Malaysian Highway Authority (MHA) on the project’s alleged weaknesses. Members of the Say-No-to-Kidex committee were then told to summarise and submit their objections in writing so that the minister could revisit the project, said group member Mak Khuin Weng. This development could be seen as minor victory for the group, which claims to represent a majority of residents affected by the proposed highway in their attempts to get the project scrapped. Fadhilah also instructed highway developer Kidex Sdn Bhd to hand over relevant documents and reports to the group to enable them to complete their technical presentation. “The federal government has given us a foot in the door to make ourselves heard, and we are going to take it,” Mak told reporters after a meeting with a group of PKR MPs at a hotel in Petaling Jaya last night. According to Mak, Fadillah viewed the technical report of the group’s objections as part of the public consultation process that has to be fulfilled if the project is to take off. “The minister called us for a meeting after seeing the wide publicity our campaign has gained. “We thanked him for giving us the opportunity to be heard,” Mak said, adding that the group would present its technical report again to the ministry. In a June 6 report, Fadillah had said the project would only continue if it met certain conditions set out by Putrajaya. The developer must first prove it is financially capable of carrying out the project and that it must get public feedback by carrying out an opinion survey, Fadillah had said. Kidex must meet these conditions by November this year. Its developer claimed the highway would reduce congestion on local PJ roads by offering an alternative for commuters travelling from Kinrara in the southern part of the Klang Valley to Bandar Utama in the north. But Petaling Jaya residents are opposing the highway as they claim it will worsen already clogged roads, risk the safety of schoolchildren and pollute neighbourhoods. If approved, the elevated Kidex would cut through neighbourhoods that have been in Petaling Jaya since it was founded almost 60 years ago. Its proposed route will cut through more than 3,700 parcels of land, including homes, factories, shops, malls and schools. Kidex is among six new tolled highways proposed in the Klang Valley and Selangor as part of an integrated network. So far, four of those projects – SUKE (Sungei Besi-Hulu Klang Expressway), DASH (Damansara-Shah Alam Elevated Expressway), EKVE (East Klang Valley Expressway) and Kidex – have attracted fierce opposition from residents in Cheras, Kota Damansara, Ampang and Petaling Jaya. Besides criticising Putrajaya, residents are upset at the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat government for allowing these projects to go ahead. They accused the Pakatan government of going back on its word to consult residents over such mega-projects and that the highways contradicted Pakatan’s manifesto of wanting to abolish tolled roads. In the past, the Selangor government had said it had no choice but to give approval in principle for the project. Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim had said the state could not simply reject federal government projects and that it would study them to determine if they were for the public good. However, according to Mak, Putrajaya had only approved the project after the developer got approval from Selangor in 2012. When met after the meeting, Batu MP Tian Chua said PKR agreed with the group’s concerns. “If it is not beneficial, we will object to it. But we do not know if our objection will be enough to stop the project, he said.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 03:01:09 +0000
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