Stakeholders cum Residents Against PJD Link Highway chairman David Yoong said the government cannot approve the realignment for the highway using the old impact assessments, which were done in 2021 and based on the previously proposed alignment.
“The government must order the developer to carry out new impact assessments with the latest data. It should have done this and not approve a new alignment using the old assessments.
“Once these are done, the developer and government must get feedback from the residents again,” he said after a meeting with the representatives of residents.
Yoong said many residents around Petaling Jaya are against the project, but will support the new realignment if it does not cut through the city centre.
“At least 300,000 residents will be affected if the project does not account for the social and sustainability aspects,” he said.
On Nov 28 last year, Petaling Jaya MP Lee Chean Chung revealed federal agencies have approved the new realignment plan for the PJD Link highway proposed by its developer.
Lee said he learnt about this at a briefing held by the parliamentary select committee on infrastructure, transportation and communication.
Last year, Selangor menteri besar Amirudin Shari said the state government had decided to cancel the PJD Link project after the developer’s social impact assessment was found to be unsatisfactory and failed to comply with the state government’s conditions.
Government spokesman Fahmi Fadzil also said Putrajaya had decided to cancel the project after the concessionaire failed to comply with six of the government’s 11 conditions.
Meanwhile, transport expert Rosli Azad Khan, who was present today, said the government should emulate major cities elsewhere in the world such as Tokyo, Paris and London, which do not allow highways to be built in crowded city centres.
“If you allow this to happen, you will ruin an entire ecosystem and the surroundings.
“The main principle of traffic dispersal systems is that no one can build a highway in the middle of the city, but (the government) wants to do just that.
“Government agencies such as the Malaysian Highway Authority, public works department and city planners should have advised the government about this. Why has no one done so?”