KUALA LUMPUR: Residents living along the alignment of the shelved Petaling Jaya Traffic Dispersal (PJD Link) highway are again calling for the concession agreement of the project to be made public.
Petaling Jaya member of parliament (MP) Lee Chean Chung said it was essential that the public was informed that the highway would not proceed so as to prevent confusion and maintain public confidence in the government.
"The best option is for the public to have transparency and visibility over what transpired in the past few years," he said.
On March 21, Deputy Works Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan told Parliament that certain stipulations in the PJD Link concession agreement prevented the government from making it public.
Lee said he was shocked when Selangor Public Infrastructure and Facilities, Agricultural Modernisation and Agro-Based Industry Committee chairman Izham Hashim said in the state assembly yesterday that PJD Link and six other highways were now again under consideration by the state government.
He said Izham's announcement would cause confusion and loss of trust in the government as the public were earlier told that highway had been scrapped.
"Say No to PJD Link" coordinator Billie Tan said the PJD Link would adversely affect the local communities.
"Flooding will be more frequent, worse still if they decide to build over the Penchala River, as once proposed. It will create pollutants for instance, concrete pillars will trap heat and create a heat island.
"Homes of senior citizens, some who have lived here for the past 50 to 60 years will be demolished to make way for the highway," she said.
She said the government should promise that no new highways would be built in densely populated city centres.
"We want it in black and white that no other highways will be built in major, densely populated city centres.
"Highways are meant to link distant cities, not to be built in mature neighbourhoods which will only induce more traffic. We need more public transport," she said.
Stakeholders cum Residents Against PJD Link (ScRAP) Highway chairman David Yoong supports the Petaling Jaya MP's call for transparency.
Yoong said costs and concession terms should be made public if the government insisted on proceeding with the project.
He said said the government should realign the highway instead of "bludgeoning" it through the city.
Yoong added local residents were unlikely to use the highways to go to the Federal Fighway as they had alternatives, such as Jalan Universiti and Jalan Utara.
"If users want to go further south to Taman Medan, Puchong and Kinrara, the alternative circumventing route will serve the purpose, without killing the city's environment and disrupting lives," he said.
PJD Link is an elevated traffic dispersal highway to link the north and south of the Klang Valley.
The project is a private-sector funded that will link to to six major highways: NKVE, SPRINT, FHR2, NPE, KESAS and Bukit Jalil Highway.
It's an alternative route between Damansara and Kinrara.