Councillors query road builders

The Star 17/10/2005

By GEETHA KRISHNAN at the Kajang Municipal Council full board meeting

HIGHWAY concessionaires in Kajang came under fire for putting their interests above that of residents.

Councillors present at the briefings by Sistem Lingkaran Kajang Sdn Bhd (Silk Highway), Grand Saga Sdn Bhd (Cheras-Kajang Highway) and Kaseh Lebuhraya Sdn Bhd (Kajang-Seremban - Kaseh Highway) representatives were also unhappy with some of the steps taken.


Zainal Abidin ... opened the floor to a question-and-answer session
They voiced their concerns when council president Zainal Abidin Arshad opened the floor to a question-and-answer session following the briefing.

Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) officers were also present.

Councillor Johan Abdul Aziz said Silk was given the go ahead at one full board meeting to build an access road from the highway into Taman Bukit Mewah Phase 7 and vice-versa. However only the exit road was built.

He said in order to enter the phase, residents had to travel 7km further before arriving home while flat dwellers located opposite the residential area had easy access both ways.

“Residents are forced to pass through Kajang in order to gain access to their homes and this defeats the main purpose of building Silk which is to ease traffic congestion in the town,” he stressed.

Kajang assemblyman and councillor Low Lee Leng said existing drains in Kampung Baru Sungai Chua were not connected to the new drains built by Silk and flooded easily when it rained.

She also highlighted the lack of action taken to rectify damages caused to several houses on Jalan 4 due to the construction of the highway.

At the second segment of the briefing, Grand Saga was asked why the road linking Bandar Mahkota Cheras to the Cheras-Kajang Highway was closed without prior consultation with the council.

The Grand Saga representative said the closure was due to an unresolved compensation issue between the concessionaire and township developer Narajaya Sdn Bhd.

He said the road would only be opened once the directive was received from LLM.

When the representative remained adamant, Zainal Abidin said the council would deal directly with LLM over the matter.

The council will also seek a meeting with the top-level management at LLM over other highway issues.

A site visit to the problem areas was also proposed to gain a better picture of the inconveniences posed to residents.

The final segment of the briefing was on the current status of the Kaseh project.

Although the concession agreement was signed in 1997, work has continuously stalled over the years owing to the recession and financial difficulties.

The 45.7km project involves three packages and two sub-packages to be completed in stages. Package 1A comprising a 1.44km stretch located at the end of the Kajang Bypass near Bandar Teknologi, Semenyih, was completed in February 2004.

Package 1B, which involves the construction of a 16.7km connection to Pajam, was supposed to be ready by mid-2006 but the council was informed that work stalled in April this year because the concessionaire ran into financial trouble again.

According to the representative present, the Works Ministry had sent a letter to Kaseh directing it to resolve the problem by June but Kaseh managed to obtain an extension till Sept 30.

At a meeting held on Oct 6 by the relevant agencies, it was decided that the matter would be brought to the Cabinet.

Residents travelling between Kajang and Semenyih face traffic congestion on a daily basis, compounded by the fact that the Kaseh project has stalled now and then. It is hoped that their problems would be alleviated pending the Cabinet decision.