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Three weeks ago, the 45-year-old housewife noticed deep cracks in the back room of her double-storey link house in Bandar Baru Sri Petaling. The cracks then spread to the kitchen and living room walls.

She claimed the cracks, some as wide as 3cm, were caused by construction work on the RM1.3 billion 26km Kuala Lumpur-Putrajaya highway which passes near some 200 houses along Jalan 2/149.

"We were happy to move into this neighbourhood because the mosque and schools were nearby but now we cannot live in peace," said the housewife who moved into the area with husband Aburrahman Othman and five children seven years ago.

Awalliyah is not alone. Her neighbour, C.Y. Ng, who lives across the road with her husband and two children, is also alarmed by the cracks on her kitchen floor and walls.

"I am scared. I am so afraid my family and I will sink with the house.

"As it is, the floor tiles have cracked."
Ng, who has stopped using her kitchen over the past two weeks, said new cracks were appearing daily.

ALARMING: Ng in her kitchen with the cracked wall on the right. INSET: Close-up of the crack

"I can even hear the cracking and that is scary."

Some 10 to 15 families living in Jalan 2/149 have reported cracks on their house walls since construction of the highway started two months ago.

Meeting reporters today, Seri Petaling Resident Association spokesperson Lau Kien Foh said many residents had been affected by the construction, which was why some 100 members had protested outside Parliament House on Sept 19.

Lau said the contention from some quarters that some of the families had extended their houses close to the highway was not true.

"Not a single house has been extended beyond its property line," he said, adding that the residents’ problems included noise and air pollution.

The association has called on the Works Ministry to review the guidelines on highway development, especially on maintaining the reserve land between highways and housing.