PJ residents demand Selangor share ‘requirements’ for highway projects

Residents have given the federal and Selangor governments one week from today to share the "requirements" set for any future highway projects in Petaling Jaya.

The ultimatum followed on the heels of caretaker Selangor menteri besar Amirudin Shari recently announcing that the state government has decided to scrap the Petaling Jaya Dispersal Link (PJD Link) project, and then a short while later added that the project might be revived if it fulfils certain “requirements”.

Through a media statement today, the residents presented three demands for the federal and state governments to comply with to show they truly wish to scrap the project, namely:

• to give a firm commitment not to entertain any similar proposed highway projects in Petaling Jaya in future

• to immediately declassify the PJD Link concession agreement dated April 5 last year, which was classified under the Official Secrets Act 1972

• to immediately disclose to the public the PJD Link’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Social Impact Assessment (SIA), and Traffic Impact Assessment (SIA) reports, as well as the “requirements” that the Selangor government has imposed to greenlight a highway in Petaling Jaya.

Caretaker Selangor menteri besar Amirudin Shari

“We also deserve to know the ‘requirements’ set forth by the state government to approve a highway project in Petaling Jaya, which the Selangor (caretaker) chief minister is referring to in news reports.

“What conditions and thresholds is he referring to? We need to know what yardsticks are used by the state government, and assess whether they adequately protect public & environmental interests,” the residents said.

They contended that failure to abide by the one-week ultimatum would show that the federal and Selangor governments show no serious commitment to reject future highway projects in Petaling Jaya that are similar to PJD Link and the Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex).

The residents further contended that any such failure would mean they would continue with their ongoing court action - to compel the federal and state governments to hand over the PJD Link documents - in the interests of the public.

The proposed 25.4km PJD Link was meant to connect the Sprint highway in Damansara to the Bukit Jalil highway in Bandar Kinrara. - Mkini