Selangor disagrees with proposal to revert ECRL to its original alignment

The Selangor government does not agree with the Transport Ministry’s proposal to revert the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project to its original alignment, passing through the Gombak and Serendah areas in the state.

State Local Government, Public Transport and New Village Development Committee chairman Ng Sze Han (above) said this was because the original alignment passed through a water catchment area in Selangor.

"The original alignment covers the route near the Klang Gates Quartz Ridge (Gombak), Batu Dam, Templar Forest Reserve and Forest Park, Kota Puteri or Batu Arang. The alignment passes through water catchment areas.

“Selangor has proposed a more strategic location, namely in Jenjarom (Kuala Langat) near Rimbayu or Kampung Cheeding, as well as in Pelabuhan Barat (West Port),” he said at the Selangor State Assembly sitting today.

Ng (Harapan-Kinrara) was responding to a question from Lau Weng San (Harapan-Banting) on the latest status of the ECRL project in Selangor.

At the same time, Ng also said that if the Transport Ministry intends to continue the ECRL project with the original alignment plan, economic issues related to the areas of the previously proposed routes should be resolved wisely.

The media previously reported that there was a proposal to revert to the original ECRL alignment plan, proposed during the former BN administration before the 14th general election.

Meanwhile, the State Environment, Green Technology, Science, Technology and Innovation and Consumer Affairs Committee chairman Hee Loy Sian said the current status of gazetting the forest reserve, Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM) as a United Nations Educational, Scientific, Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) World Heritage Site is still in the nomination stage.

He said the document related to the nomination of FRIM has been submitted to Unesco on Jan 31, 2017.

“This document is a tentative list that needs to be submitted to Unesco at least a year before sending a complete nomination dossier,” he said, in response to a question by Elizabeth Wong (Harapan-Bukit Lanjan) on the latest feedback on the gazetting of FRIM as a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Hee said work on the preparation of the nomination dossier and related documents is being carried out by appointed experts and is expected to be submitted to Unesco in 2022.

- Bernama