Highway project needs better clarity

THE proposed realignment of an elevated U-turn on the East Klang Valley Expressway (EKVE) project should consider safety of motorists and other stakeholders, say several community leaders.

Alliance for Safe Community founder and chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said the state and federal governments, developer EKVE Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Ahmad Zaki Resources Bhd (AZRB), and contractors must further consider the safety aspects and welfare of the community, affected landowners and those who would eventually be using the highway.

Lee said those affected were requesting AZRB to conduct a road safety audit (RSA), social impact assessment (SIA) and traffic impact assessment (TIA) on the project.

“The developer must be seen carrying out the assessments and the results must be made available to the public.

“When it comes to the (issue of) realignment, I fully concur with the engineers, who said that the way the project is done poses a high risk to the safety of road users and people living in the surrounding residential area.”

Lee says the developer must be seen carrying out the RSA, SIA and TIA assessments and results must be made available to the public.

Lee was speaking at a press conference at the home of Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) Selangor chairman Christine Chin.

Chin’s residence in Beverly Heights, Ampang, was acquired by the state government under the Land Acquisition Act to build the EKVE project.

The EKVE is a 36km highway, costing RM1.55bil, and is part of the Kuala Lumpur Outer Ring Road.

It will be a dual carriageway tolled road connecting Bandar Sungai Long and Ukay Perdana.

It was supposed to have been completed in 2019, but has been delayed due to multiple complex legal and financial issues as well as logistical delays.

Lee said the developer had realigned the U-turn to look like a three-point turn flyover, where even the mandatory setback had been reduced from 13m to 3m.

Institute of Engineers Malaysia board of engineers member Datuk Pee Kang Seng, who prepared a technical paper on the elevated U-turn, said it was imperative that the RSA be done before construction of the U-turn was completed.

“An additional hazard that warrants the RSA is the entrance to Beverly Heights and Rumah Anak Yatim Dato Harun at the ground level.

“This would also pose a burden to the current ingress and egress of the existing junction, which is evidently skewed towards the Middle Ring Road 2.

Pee says the way the EKVE project was carried out isunacceptable from an engineering point of view.

“It is imperative that the junction be designed to cater for an appropriate deceleration and acceleration lane so that collisions can be avoided.”

Pee said the way the project was carried out was unacceptable from an engineering point of view.

He added that the RSA, TIA and SIA should be made accessible to public.

Chin said despite the completion of the land inquiry process and court orders for the payment of compensation, the federal and state authorities and highway concessionaire had yet to pay her the compensation owed.

The Land Administrator had on Oct 17, 2018 issued an award (Borang H) for the sum of RM11.2mil to the landowner (Chin).

“Now, in an attempt to save costs, the authorities have decided to withdraw the acquisition and realigned the highway,” she said.

Part of the land which Chin’s house sits on was acquired by the state government under the Land Acquisition Act.

Chin said for the last six years, including during the Covid-19 pandemic, she could not sell her property and that she did not want to live under the highway.

“It is unfair. The state cannot just issue Borang H indefinitely; there has to be some statute of limitations.”

Chin said a court order was also in her favour and it had to be complied with by the state government.

On Chin’s plight, Lee said the non-payment of compensation was an injustice.

“Both the federal and state governments have a responsibility to resolve issues related to the highway,” he said.

As at press time, AZRB had yet to respond to queries on the matter.