Highway leapt into local authority plan without public hearing, ex-councillor confirms

(The Malay Mail) – The contentious Serdang-Kinrara-Putrajaya Expressway (Skip) was incorporated into Selangor’s local city plan even though it was never part of key public hearings in 2012 , a local councillor at the time has confirmed.

Rajiv Rishyakaran, a councillor on the Subang Jaya local authority before the 2013 general election, said the highway was not mentioned or presented to residents at public hearings in Feb 2012 which heard all the proposed changes to Selangor’s local city plans.

“To the best of my knowledge, it was not part of the amendments presented during the public display in 2012,” Rajiv, currently DAP Bukit Gasing state assemblyman told The Malay Mail Online when contacted.

Rajiv said he had attended public hearings on all the proposed changes at the time.

Because they cut through swathes of land, highways cannot be constructed without amending the local authority’s existing plans for the areas within its jurisdiction. The Skip highway, however, appears to have leapt into the local city plan without having to go through this crucial step.

The 17.5km expressway which will join up with another controversial project, the Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex) , has already been incorporated into Majlis Perbandaran Subang Jaya’s local city plan.

But at least one crucial official record is silent on the matter and publicly available details are scarce, raising questions over how the project came to be included.

The highway is not mentioned in the official report on all amendments to the local authority’s blueprint for Subang Jaya city prepared by the Selangor Town and Country Planning Department in February 2012.

But according to the local council’s latest local city blueprint sighted by The Malay Mail Online, the highway has been gone through the amendment stage and has been incorporated into the plan.

Rishyakaran also confirmed this, saying that Skip is already part of the latest local city plan, and that he had a copy of the document.

“I can see that Skip is now in the local city plan. If you compare it to the previous plan, which I also have, it was not there before.

“But now it is, despite the fact that it was not brought before a public briefing,” the DAP state lawmaker added, saying he is “concerned” about the matter.

Rishyakaran said he intends to bring the matter up with the Selangor state planning committee (SPC) soon.

Any proposal by MPSJ to amend its local city plan will be deliberated by the planning committee. If they satisfy basic requirements, the proposals are presented in public hearings for feedback.

The public hearing element is an important requisite which must be satisfied before the state planning committee can give its final stamp of approval.

Investigations by The Malay Mail Online have revealed that the Skip highway project has already been awarded to a private company — Putrajaya Perdana Berhad through its concession subsidiary Putra Perdana Expressways Sdn Bhd (PPE).

A spokesperson for the project developer said the highway is already in the “final stage”, and that it has received  blanket approvals by relevant “state and federal agencies.”

“The Environmental Impact Assessment and Traffic Impact Assessment report is already ready.Selangor even approved it through the Selangor Economic Action Council (MTS),” the spokesperson who declined to be named said.

That tallies with Selangor mentri besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim’s confirmation that his administration has conditionally approved the Skip highway alongside five other highways.

At the time of writing, it is not known when construction of the Skip highway will start or when it is expected to be completed.