RM100mil PJD Link compensation sum derived from news report, says rep

Taman Medan assemblyman Dr Afif Bahardin expressed fears that the traffic in his constituency will worsen now that the PJD Link has been axed. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: A Perikatan Nasional assemblyman from Selangor has revealed he ascertained the RM100 million compensation sum for the cancelled Petaling Jaya Dispersal Link (PJD Link) highway project from a news report.

Dr Afif Bahardin said when the Cabinet decided to scrap the project, he began to monitor news portals.

He said an article by a news portal had mentioned the RM100 million sum to be paid.

“So I am merely asking, are we willing to pay such an amount? That is taxpayers’ money we are talking about,” he told FMT.

The Taman Medan assemblyman said while he was no expert when it came to concession agreements, there were “definitely exit clauses or penalties that need to be paid in the event a project is cancelled”.

Earlier today, PKR’s Lee Chean Chung questioned how Afif had come up with the figure, saying the latter could not have known details about the concession agreement as it was classified under the Official Secrets Act.

“Has he seen this report? Reading this report is a violation of the Official Secrets Act,” the Petaling Jaya MP was quoted by Malaysiakini as saying.

Last week, following the government’s announcement that it would not proceed with the project, the developer of the PJD Link said it was considering requests to review the alignment of the highway.

On April 17, unity government spokesman Fahmi Fadzil said the decision came after the concessionaire failed to meet six out of 11 conditions set by Putrajaya.

However, the concessionaire attributed the unfulfilled conditions to the complexities of the project, which it said took longer than expected to iron out.

Afif went on to express fears that the traffic in his constituency would worsen now that the PJD Link had been axed with no plans to widen the roads near Taman Medan.

He said according to the social, traffic and environmental impact assessments he had obtained from the project’s proponents, 68.7% of the Taman Medan residents had expressed support for the PJD Link.

“The benefits outweigh the risks. The highway would offload 60% of traffic from Taman Medan’s internal roads and Jalan Templer. Our internal roads would be able to be used again.”

The PJD Link would have connected the north and south of Petaling Jaya, passing through Petaling Jaya Utara, Bandar Utama, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Petaling Jaya city centre, Taman Dato’ Harun, Taman Medan Baru, Taman Sri Manja, Bandar Kinrara and Bukit Jalil Technology Park.

The proposal for the highway’s construction was approved in principle by the Cabinet in November 2017.

In September 2020, the state government also approved the project in principle, subject to receipt of the impact assessment reports.