KUALA LUMPUR – Opposition politicians, environmentalists and netizens have expressed frustration at the government’s move to approve three new highways in the Klang Valley.
The stakeholders have collectively voiced their disappointment over the projects, which they believe will compound traffic inconvenience, pollution and other woes even further, especially during the construction process.
They have called for better public transportation and town planning, among other things, in order to address road congestion in the metropolitan area.
This comes after Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof announced the government’s approval for the Petaling Jaya Traffic Dispersal Elevated Highway (PJD Link), the Bangi-Putrajaya Expressway (BPE) and the Kuala Lumpur Northern Dispersal Expressway (KL Node) projects.
Amid public outcry, the minister then announced that the projects are privately funded, and the government would not provide any allocation, including for land acquisition.
Still a burden on the people
Sg Buloh MP Sivarasa Rasiah said such highways contradict Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) policy, which is against the development of new tolled highways, especially within city areas.
He said public transportation challenges within cities are not best tackled by tolled highways. Instead, they can be addressed by reducing car access to inner cities, as well as by offering better bus services and trains, among other moves.
The PJD Link is essentially a “rehash” of the controversial Kinrara-Damansara Expressway, which was strongly opposed by affected residents and rejected by the Selangor government under then menteri besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali.
“We (PH) are against tolled highways for private profit. Our last manifesto committee was committed to reducing tolls for existing highways.
“We would contradict this if we gave approval to (the) PJD Link,” Sivarasa, a former deputy rural development minister under PH, told The Vibes.
“This will be yet another privately funded and owned tolled highway, with the government guaranteeing increments in toll payments.”
“We do not want Petaling Jaya residents to be burdened by tolls for a highway they do not need. There is no compelling argument as to why this highway should be built through the heart of PJ.”
Sivarasa said the government should build inter-city highways instead, and they should not be based on private concession models with profit-making tolls.
He added that no details have been revealed regarding the PJD Link, or any of the legally required social and environmental impact studies.
What we do know is that it will drive through the mature township of Petaling Jaya, causing much acquisition of houses, and creating an unsightly landscape,” said Sivarasa, who is a long-time resident of Petaling Jaya.
Earlier, Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming, whose constituency is affected by the BPE, called on the government to explain in detail the terms of the approved highways.
Ong said the highway projects will have a long-term impact on the landscape, way of life and rate of development in the areas involved.
He stressed that they should not be done hastily, but there must be transparency in terms of information disclosure and openness in terms of public discussion.
Adverse environmental impact feared
Kennedy Michael, founder of the River Three Alliance (ART!) and co-founder of the Malaysian Climate Emergency Coalition, a collective consisting of environmentalist non-governmental organisations and individuals, said the building of more highways has not solved the problems related to transportation, connectivity and traffic faced by Malaysians.
“All these constructions do not align with the commitment to reducing our carbon footprint or the government’s pledge of Net Zero by 2050. I don’t support Net Zero as I see it as a false solution,” he said.
“Highway projects have always been perceived as crony capitalism and never in the interests of Malaysians, although they are always positioned as such. History has proven this to be true time and again.”
Michael said intra-city highways tend to become bottlenecks that add to road congestion, citing the Duta–Ulu Klang Expressway as an example. He also questioned the safety records of the highways, based on the accidents that have occurred along these roads.
Furthermore, he warned of the heavy environmental impact of the projects.
“Highways destroy cohesive ecosystems and their integrity. These in turn displace wildlife and upset the biodiversity balance,” he said when contacted.
There have been many instances of this even though they are rarely reported.
Sightings of tapirs, sunbears, white-thighed surilis, tigers, wild boars and other wild animals in populated and urbanised areas are increasing, he said, adding that this points to the problem of their displacement from shrinking natural habitats.
Highways add to the impermeability of land for rainwater absorption. The direct results of this are flooding.”
No sign of social, traffic, environmental impact reports
Noina Baharuddin, the coordinator of governance and local planning non-governmental organisation AJ Rimba Collective, from Ampang Jaya, questioned whether the KL Node project has gone through due process, especially in terms of gaining approval from the Selangor state executive council.
She said the stakeholders have yet to see any social, traffic as well as environmental impact assessment reports, among other documents needed to consult the community.
Noina said the KL Node project was mentioned as merely a “proposal” in the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council Local Plan 2035, and there was no mention of any approval by the council.
If it has (received approval) at the federal or state level, has it gone through the due process? Because we as stakeholders have not heard of anything.”
“We are not against infrastructure, but you have to go through due process so that everybody agrees to it.”
Meanwhile, netizens expressed their dismay over the three new highways following the works minister’s announcement.
On Facebook, user Shafrul Nizam said: “What will happen is that there will be ‘extraordinary congestion’ for five million residents due to the construction of three highway projects that were intended to solve traffic woes.”
Another Facebook user, Siti Aminah Muhammad Imran, insisted that priority be given for public transport to be improved.
“It solves many problems. Public transport including buses. Because in the Klang Valley, the flow of trains such as the LRT and MRT is good enough, but buses can take up to 30 minutes to arrive and sometimes don’t arrive at all.” – The Vibes, June 8, 2022
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