KUALA LUMPUR – The Highway Authority should immediately declassify the concession agreement for the Petaling Jaya Dispersal Link (PJD Link), said Petaling Jaya MP Lee Chean Chung.
He added that the declassification was “essential for lawmakers, experts, and concerned citizens to engage in meaningful dialogue and make informed decisions” about the highway project.
“Transparency is fundamental to responsible governance, and a prerequisite for the public before any engagement. There will be no meaningful consultation without information disclosure,” he said in a statement today.
Lee also said his enquiries in Parliament had been met with obstacles – “often obscured under the Official Secrets Act 1972 (OSA) or redirected to other authorities”.
In March, Deputy Works Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan reiterated in the Dewan Rakyat that the concession agreement for the PJD Link was classified under the OSA.
Despite opposition by certain quarters, nearly 50,000 residents in Taman Medan urged the Selangor government to speed up the approval for the PJD Link, seeing that at least nine of the roads in the area were choked with traffic, especially during peak hours.
The Selangor government scrapped the PJD Link project before the state election in August last year, but it is understood that PLANMalaysia Selangor has approved the project’s social impact assessment (SIA).
Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari has said the developer’s SIA states support for the highway from Taman Medan and Kinrara residents, while Petaling Jaya residents oppose it.
Because of divided opinion, he said the developer could realign the highway to avoid passing through areas where residents reject it – but this would mean renegotiating with the federal government, which had approved it in principle.
Last month, Selangor Infrastructure and Agriculture executive councillor Izham Hashim told Scoop the proposed highway had not been cancelled but was delayed as the state government awaited information from the PJD Link’s developer about revised plans for the alignment.
The PJD Link, with 11 interchanges, would connect Bandar Utama to Bukit Jalil, as a means to disperse traffic and reduce traffic congestion within Petaling Jaya. – April 2, 2024