DAP Selangor threatens to suspend Kidex approval if traffic assessment report not revealed
(Malay Mail Online) – DAP Selangor threatened today to suspend approvals for the Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex) if the federal government fails to reveal the traffic assessment report.
DAP National Publicity Secretary Tony Pua said the government or the concessionaire must provide full disclosure, both on the current as well as future traffic impact assessments as well as the toll rate and rate of return on the highway investment.
“If not, DAP Selangor will demand and endorse the complete and immediate suspension of all processes by the Selangor state government in granting the necessary approvals for the highway in the state.
“Hence we will like to challenge the Works Minister to present his ‘research’ which allegedly ‘supports the estimate’ of an overall reduction of 20 to 30 per cent in traffic in Petaling Jaya and Puchong,” he said in a statement.
The Petaling Jaya Utara MP said Kidex had failed to highlight that their preliminary TIA report covered 43 roads, and that certain roads may see an increase in traffic by up to 233 per cent.
He added that the preliminary report presented to the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) indicated that major roads such as Jalan Bukit Jalil Indah will face a projected increase of 233 per cent, Jalan Changgai 109 per cent, Jalan Sultan, 58 per cent and Jalan Barat, 35 per cent.
“Hence when the impact on all 43 roads were taken into account, there was only a projected 5.8 per cent and 3 per cent overall reduction in traffic for 2020 and 2028 respectively.
“These figures cited by the DAP assemblymen were not plucked off the sky or produced on our own, but are extracted directly from the very documents which Datuk Fadhillah claimed were presented to MBPJ,” Pua said.
Last week, the Works Ministry said the federal government has signed a 48-year concession agreement with Kidex Sdn Bhd, the highway’s developer.
In a written Parliamentary reply to DAP Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo, the Works Minister said the agreement was signed last year but that the toll rates for the RM2.42 billion highway has yet to be determined.
The Kidex project has been rejected on three occasions by the city council as developers had failed to provide sufficient details.
Kidex is currently not incorporated into the council’s blueprint for Petaling Jaya city. Despite the growing opposition, mounting evidence in the form of replies in Parliament and the state legislative assembly indicate that the project is set to proceed.
Among the areas that could be affected by the project are Tropicana Mall, SS2 Mall, Rothman’s traffic lights, Section 14, Amcorp Mall, Hilton Petaling Jaya, Tun Hussein Onn Eye Hospital, Jalan Templer roundabout, Taman Datuk Harun, Taman Medan Baru and Bandar Kinrara.
Construction of the multi-billion-ringgit highway could begin as soon as next year and be completed by 2018.
