KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 — Highways like the Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex) and the Damansara-Shah Alam Elevated Expressway (Dash) are still needed as Putrajaya’s push towards public transport was still nascent, a deputy minister said today.

Deputy transport minister Datuk Ab Aziz Kaprawi stressed that the government needed to “accommodate” both a highway network and a public transportation system, despite its ongoing attempts to encourage people to use the latter in order to minimise traffic congestion.

“We are only at the initial stage of embarking on public transport. The practice here for people is still to use cars.

“We can’t stop people from using cars,” he told reporters at a news conference here at the “Urban Public Transportation 2014” event which was organised by the Asian World Summit.

“(Kidex, Dash) highways are for areas with no rail connectivity,” Ab Aziz said when asked how building more highways would encourage motorists to utilise public transport.

He did not elaborate on how the proposed highways, which have drawn stiff opposition from residents and politicians, would complement the government’s urban public transport push in the Klang Valley.

The Kidex project has been rejected on three occasions by the city council as developers failed to provide sufficient details.

Under Section 18 of the Town Country and Planning Act (TCPA), construction cannot start unless the highway fits with MBPJ’s plans.

Kidex is currently not incorporated into the council’s blueprint for Petaling Jaya city.

Despite growing opposition, mounting evidence in the form of replies in Parliament and the state legislative assembly indicate that the project is set to proceed.

Among the areas that could be affected by the project are Tropicana Mall, SS2 Mall, Rothman’s traffic lights, Section 14, Amcorp Mall, Hilton Petaling Jaya, Tun Hussein Onn Eye Hospital, Jalan Templer roundabout, Taman Datuk Harun, Taman Medan Baru and Bandar Kinrara.

Construction of the multi-billion ringgit highway could begin as soon as next year and be completed by 2018.

Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), which owns the developer of the Dash highway has not issued updates on the project since last year but residents have spotted soil boring rigs running tests in the area for two weeks.

DASH will be a 20.1km, three-lane, dual carriageway expressway starting from Puncak Perdana in Shah Alam to the Penchala interchange.

With 12 interchanges, the RM11.5 billion expressway plans to link drivers to Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong (LDP) and the Sprint highways, which residents claimed are already congested during peak hours.

Residents are worried that in addition to traffic congestion, construction in the highly-populated area will be detrimental to safety, health and the environment.