Hard to boost public transport without Kidex, minister tells Parliament
(Malay Mail Online) – Cancelling the Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex) project will complicate efforts to expand public transport in Selangor, a minister said today.
Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof told Parliament that one of the plans to tackle traffic woes in the Klang Valley is to have integrated highways, saying that the cancellation of Kidex will affect the construction of other highways like the Serdang-Kinrara-Putrajaya Expressway.
“When these highways are not present, our efforts to enhance public transportation become difficult,” Fadillah said in reply to a question by Kuala Selangor MP Irmohizam Ibrahim.
“When the current roads are already congested, it makes it difficult to mobilise public transportation,” he added.
Irmohizam had asked Fadillah to explain if the cancellation of Kidex would affect traffic management in Klang Valley and efforts to strengthen the public transportation network.
Selangor Mentri Besar Azmin Ali rejected the controversial Kidex project last month, claiming that the developer had failed to meet the terms set by the state government before the February 14 deadline.
Azmin said Kidex did not disclose various reports for the project such as a traffic impact assessment, a social impact assessment and an environmental impact assessment, besides failing to reveal the toll rates and full concession agreement.
The first-term mentri besar stressed that Selangor does not need more highways to solve traffic congestion issues, but rather that Putrajaya needs to focus on making the public transport system more efficient.
The state’s move to cancel Kidex came after Selangor residents held a protest in January against Kidex and the Damansara-Shah Alam Highway project.
In response, the Works Ministry said it will have the Attorney-General’s Chambers scrutinise Selangor’s “cancellation” of the Kidex project, claiming that only Putrajaya and the highway developer are party to the concession agreement.
Fadillah had also said the highway project had fulfilled all the necessary procedures for approval and that it was needed to alleviate traffic congestion in the Klang Valley.
The minister said today that the ministry will wait for the Selangor government to hand in its master plan on traffic solution that will take six months to complete.
