Petaling Jaya MP Lee Chean Chung said he learnt about this update at a briefing held by the parliamentary select committee on infrastructure, transportation and communication today.
He said during the briefing, they were informed that a Cabinet meeting agreed on May 8 to grant the project developer, PJD Link (M) Sdn Bhd, the flexibility to submit a fresh proposal for a new alignment.
“The latest update is that the proposal for the new alignment has received approval from federal agencies. The ball is now in the Selangor government’s court, to decide whether the project will proceed or otherwise,” he told a press conference at the Parliament building.
Lee said that before the state election last year, the Selangor leadership had pledged to ensure the project was scrapped.
“Any attempt to secure approval, even with minor amendments (to the project plan), would be a betrayal of both policymakers and the public,” he said.
He also said this is the perfect opportunity for the Selangor government to honour its promise, given that the cancellation of the project would incur no cost to the public, as stipulated in the concession agreement with PJD Link.
Taman Medan assemblyman Dr Afif Bahardin previously claimed that the cancellation of the project involved a compensation sum of RM100 million, a figure he said he had ascertained from a news report.
On April 17, unity government spokesman Fahmi Fadzil said Putrajaya decided to cancel the project after the concessionaire failed to meet six out of 11 conditions set by the government.
Following the government’s announcement that it would not proceed with the project, the developer said it was considering requests to review the alignment of the highway.
Subang MP Wong Chen said he hopes to see greater transparency with the project, especially regarding the new costs involved, including land acquisition costs and revenue projections for the 48-year concession period.
“All of this is crucial to ensure the public understands the actual cost to users and the total construction costs. We leave it to the government to provide their feedback and calculations,” he said.
Last year, Selangor menteri besar Amirudin Shari said the state government had decided to scrap the PJD Link project after the impact assessment reports submitted by the developer, particularly the social impact assessment report, were found to be not satisfactory and did not meet certain conditions set by the state government.