PSM: MRT will bring hell to Kota Damansara
By Patrick Lee, Free Malaysia Today
KOTA DAMANSARA: Persiaran Surian is a heavily travelled highway even during those hours when most people are supposed to be at work or at home. During peak hours, however, it is a monstrous serpent of stuck automobiles.
It is not the only road serving this hastily developed township. There are four others, and they too are notorious for traffic jams.
One would have thought that any public transportation project affecting the township would have included a plan to solve this perennial problem. However, the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) project is likely to make it worse.
No one is more convinced of this than Kota Damansara state assemblyman Nasir Hashim.
The PSM leader showed FMT blueprints of the six MRT stations planned for the township. They are named Kampung Baru Sungai Buloh, Rubber Research Institute (RRI) of Malaysia, Kota Damansara North, Taman Industri Sungai Buloh, Kota Damansara South and Dataran Sunway.
Directly above Persiaran Surian
The stations will be sited along Persiaran Surian and Jalan Sungai Buloh, the two main roads serving the township.
Pointing to the Dataran Sunway blueprint, Nasir said: “It will be built directly on top of Persiaran Surian.” The other stations too will more or less sit directly atop either of the two roads.
Nasir and his staff worry that some of the roads will be closed during the MRT’s development, resulting in traffic jams that are almost unimaginably severe.
“For sure some parts of the road are going to be closed,” Nasir said. “Right now, a four-lane road is already jammed. Are we going to need an alternative road? Are they going to expand the road?”
