Kidex an unsustainable, firefighting solution to PJ congestion, says town planning expert
Sheridan Mahavera, The Malaysian Insider
The Kidex highway should be a last-resort answer to traffic congestion in Petaling Jaya, said a leading town planner, adding that the authorities should first consider public transport for Selangor’s biggest city.
Malaysian Institute of Planners (MIP) president Md Nazri Mohd Noordin believed that the RM2.42 billion project’s claims to cut traffic in Petaling Jaya would also be short-lived, since like all highways, the Kinrara-Damansara Expressway would be an “invitation” for people to drive more and this would result in more cars on the road which, in turn, causes congestion.
“They may claim to reduce traffic after it is built. But in five years the traffic demand may overload the highway and what then? Do we build another highway to solve the jam?” Md Nazri said in an interview with The Malaysian Insider.
“It is not sustainable. The main thrust should always be in public transport as a solution to congestion. It is more sustainable economically, socially and environmentally,” said Md Nazri, a town planner with more than 25 years experience.
Md Nazri was giving his expert opinion on the controversial Kidex project, which will see a 14.9km elevated highway built over densely populated Petaling Jaya by a company owned by Umno lawyer Datuk Hafarizam Harun and the family of former chief justice Tun Zaki Azmi.
His views would fuel the debate over whether the elevated highway, the priciest in Malaysian history and with a 48-year concession period, is the most viable solution to congestion in one of the densest cities in the country.
Kidex’s supporters argue that it is necessary as a bypass for motorists travelling from the southern part of the Klang Valley to the northern part.
But its critics claim that the environmental and safety hazards it will create for PJ residents are not worth its benefits, which they claim are negligible to begin with.
The MIP is a professional institute whose members are fully qualified professional town planners, working in various federal, state and local authorities.
Its members are also town planning consultants, lecturers in universities and planners for developers and various organisations with significant land banks.
The MIP, Md Nazri said, has always pushed for cities to build more rail network and provide more buses and taxis to move people around as opposed to building more highways.
“We are not against building roads or highways, but we believe that public transport has to be the main thrust in town planning.”
