Residents hail victory as PJD Link axed after developer fails to meet requirements

The Section 19 residents doing a SAY NO TO PJD Link banner campaign to stop PJD- Link High Way to run through the PJ City in Petaling Jaya, Selangor on Sunday, DECEMBER 13,2020. — MUHAMAD SHAHRIL ROSLI/The Star

RESIDENTS affected by the proposed Petaling Jaya Dispersal Link (PJD Link) Expressway are relieved again that the controversial project has been discontinued.

Former Section 14 Residents’ Association chairman and Say No To Kidex vice chairman Selva Sugumaran said on behalf of the Petaling Jaya residents and people who opposed PJD Link, they appreciated Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and the Cabinet for halting the project.

“This is the second time the project has been halted. The first time was when it was the Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex) in 2015 for the same reasons, which is that the developer failed to fulfil the conditions in the concession agreement,” he told StarMetro.

Selva was responding to an announcement by Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil Wednesday (April 17) that the Cabinet had decided not to continue discussions with the PJD Link developer after they failed to fulfil the conditions precedent contained in the CA to enable the agreement to take effect.

Fahmi said the Cabinet had decided that it would not further discuss the extension as proposed by PJD Link, and it was rejected as the developer could not fulfil the conditions as agreed in order to extend the project.

The PJD Link was a proposed 25.4km dual-lane elevated expressway connecting Damansara to Bandar Kinrara in Selangor.

Selva said they were relieved as PJD Link did not benefit Petaling Jaya residents or help alleviate traffic congestion in the city.

“The point-to-point tolled project did not have proper entry and exit points for residents. We hope it will not be continued at all,” he said.

Meanwhile, Stakeholders and Residents Against PJD Link (ScRAP) chairman David Yoong thanked the Federal Government for making the announcement, but questioned the decision to discontinue the project based on the failure by the developer to fulfil certain requirements.

“If this is conditional, will it leave a gaping hole for future compliance by the PJD Link developer or other developers to fulfil those conditions?

“If that is the case, the affected residents and stakeholders will be back on the carousel again.

“More importantly, the key missing element is still the lack of engagement by the Federal and state governments with the residents, business owners and stakeholders. They are not talking to us,” he said.

He added that reading from the objection statistics reported, Yoong said they had reason to believe their feedback through formal engagements with the Social Impact Assessment (SIA) survey consultant in 2023 were not accurately reflected.

“Our reasons for strong majority objections should form part of the considerations in the government’s decisions.

“We still don’t know what the 11 conditions are as set by the Federal Government, or the six that the developer did not fulfil.

“This must be told to us. The continued direct negotiations with the private developer makes a mockery of what the Prime Minister said before that Malaysia’s procurement process must be improved to make things more efficient and transparent,” said Yoong.

Section 14 Residents’ Association chairman George Paul Raj said while they were also relieved by the announcement, he questioned if it was the final nail in the coffin.

“We fear it leaves things ajar too allow another developer to come in to complete the requirements by the government,” said George.

Section 17 resident Billie Tan said instead of building more highways as it only induces more traffic congestion, the government should focus solely on improving public transportation as well as building seamless first and last mile connectivity.

“We need to have this in our master plan, local plan, and city plan. Highways do not solve the root cause of our issues,” she said.