Special cabinet committee to tackle urban traffic congestion

PUTRAJAYA – The cabinet has agreed to form a high-level committee to resolve traffic congestion issues in major cities, especially in the Klang Valley.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke said that the committee’s inaugural meeting is scheduled to be held in early April.

“It will be chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi,” he told reporters after attending the launch of the new Putrajaya MRT Line, which was opened to the public today.

“The committee has been tasked with giving serious attention to the traffic congestion issues,” Loke added.

The committee will ensure traffic congestion issues are dealt with in an integrated manner between government agencies, he also said.

“That’s why we agreed to form a cabinet committee that will include various ministries to look at more comprehensive measures to avoid working in silos.

“I am hoping that a more planned action can be used to tackle the issue of traffic congestion.

“As stated by the prime minister earlier, public transport also needs to be given attention by continuing to enhance the public transportation network in order to alleviate traffic congestion,” he said.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, in his speech when launching the Putrajaya MRT Line this morning, had spoken about the loss of productivity when commuters are forced to battle traffic congestion to get to their workplaces.

“I remember there was a study in Bangkok that said traffic congestion had caused billions of dollars of loss to the nation’s productivity, and the answer lies in (efficient) public transportation,” Anwar had said.

Loke has also confirmed that the prime minister had requested the Transport Ministry to present a detailed plan to the cabinet on the subject so that next year’s budget allocation for public transportation could be increased.

“As stated by the PM earlier, the main areas of this year’s budget are health and education.

“Next year, hopefully it will be possible to have more budget (allocation) for public transport.”

When asked whether the new plan that will be presented to the cabinet on public transport improvement would overlap the Public Transport Master Plan, Loke said: “There is no overlap to the master plan, because what is important is continuous effort to (improve the) public transport sector.” – The Vibes, March 16, 2023