Do independent traffic impact assessment, Medan Damansara folk tell DBKL

Medan Damansara Residents’ Association president G Seenivasagam (left) and K Rajandran are unhappy over the expected increase in traffic with the construction of an elevated highway.

KUALA LUMPUR: A residents’ association is requesting Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to conduct an independent traffic impact assessment (TIA) study before proceeding with the Bangsar-Damansara elevated highway.

Medan Damansara Residents’ Association (RA) president G Seenivasagam, 67, said this was important as his residential area had not been included in a TIA study done by Pavilion Damansara Heights.

“The reason for building the elevated highway is to ease traffic in the Bukit Damansara vicinity. But when I asked why Medan Damansara wasn’t included in the study, they told me that my area will not be affected.

“They must be joking. Everybody who wants to head towards Pusat Bandar Damansara (where the Pavilion project is) will pass Medan Damansara. How did they arrive at the decision to exclude us from the study?” Seenivasagam said.

Prior to the recent dialogue session between the Kuala Lumpur mayor and residents of Bukit Damansara, Medan Damansara and Bangsar, Seenivasagam said the consultants hired by Pavilion could not answer his queries on three separate occasions.

“At this recent meeting (on May 1), they pointed to an area on the map and said: ‘Medan Damansara is somewhere there.’ If they are not even sure where Medan Damansara is, it shows they have not done a holistic study involving all the affected housing areas, including mine.”

According to Seenivasagam, during peak hours, traffic towards Pusat Damansara and towards Petaling Jaya will come to a standstill. It would build up from the entrance to Jalan Setiapuspa.

Medan Damansara encompasses Jalan Setiapuspa, Lorong Setiapuspa, Jalan Kasah, Jalan Setiajasa, Jalan Setiabestari and Jalan Beluntas, among others.

Frequent travellers on that road would notice landmark restaurants, including Victoria Station and Jake’s Charbroil Steaks.

“When they were building the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit), traffic was diverted through our housing area (Jalan Kasah), and now it has become a practice for motorists to use this route.

“During peak hours, to bypass the congestion on Jalan Damansara, they will pass through our area.

“With this elevated highway, they will be discharging more traffic onto Jalan Damansara. That means more cars will come through Medan Damansara. How are residents going to enter and exit their homes?”

Reminiscing about the “good old days”, Seenivasagam said residents used to walk across the road and take a taxi and could be in Petaling Jaya town proper in 10 minutes.

Now, they cannot do that anymore for fear of getting knocked down by cars, he said.

“I moved here 30 years ago.  Medan Damansara  is about 50 years old, one of the first housing areas at the fringe of Kuala Lumpur.”

He said traffic had become heavy after they built Damansara City Mall and now the Pavilion project is expected to make matters worse.

Seenivasagam feared that if DBKL continued with the elevated highway, Medan Damansara would become a highway for those who used Jalan Damansara.

“Did you know that if you enter your destination to Pusat Bandar Damansara into Waze, it will ask you to turn into Medan Damansara to bypass the congestion?

“If they build this elevated highway, I won’t be surprised if the congestion piles up all the way to Phileo Damansara,” he said.

The elevated highway will stretch from Jalan Semantan to the junction of Sprint Highway with Jalan Maarof, shortening the journey from Bangsar to Pusat Bandar Damansara.

Two months before last May’s general election, then Federal Territories minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said the project was scheduled for completion in June 2020.

Other areas left out of traffic study

Seenivasagam said other areas left out of the TIA were Bangsar and areas such as Jalan Gegambir and Jalan Belimbing (across the road from Medan Damansara).

“You create this three-lane highway, to flow into a two-lane road. They will end up creating bottlenecks in traffic everywhere,” he added.

According to Seenivasagam, most of the residents in Medan Damansara are mostly retired government servants, and they are in their late 60s, 70s and 80s.

“We are not demanding much. We just want peace of mind. Put in some enforcement and make sure that the traffic won’t be a hindrance to the residents.”

There are about 400 households in Medan Damansara.

Another member of the Medan Damansara RA, K Rajandran, also questioned the TIA, saying that it made an inaccurate estimation of traffic generated from the Pavilion development.

“All these high-rise buildings will contribute an increase of more than 53% to the traffic. There is already Damansara City Mall and it is not occupied yet. Imagine the congestion here once they are fully occupied.”

According to reports, DBKL will contribute RM134 million of the total cost of RM211 million for the highway, with RM66 million borne by UKAS (Public-Private Partnership Unit) and RM11 million by the developer, Pavilion Damansara Heights.

The elevated highway is proposed to service Bukit Damansara residents and the Pavilion Damansara Heights project, which consists of a total of 10 office blocks, a mall and two residential towers consisting  746 units.

“If that much of traffic will be generated by Pavilion, they should take over the entire project. Why are taxpayers paying for this highway? If you can’t afford the highway, then scale down your project,” Rajandran added. - FMT