KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 17 — Just over a month-old, a high-tech 680-metre pedestrian bridge in the city that cost a hefty RM14.2 million to build appears to be missing many of its sophisticated features.
The expensive public elevated walkway connecting the Sultan Ismail light rail transit (LRT) station to the Medan Tuanku monorail station drew the DAP’s ire today after its representatives noted many basic features to be missing from the bridge, making it a safety hazard.
“First, half of the lights are out, from the Sultan Ismail LRT station to Maju Junction, so it is dangerous for pedestrians using it at night.
“Secondly, there are supposed to be CCTVs along the bridge for security reasons and to keep away vagrants, homeless people... but there were none at all.
“All the plants have an automatic watering system but more than half of the plants are dead because the automated watering system is not functioning,” Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng told The Malay Mail Online.
Lim and Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun had held a new conference on the site earlier today to highlight the state of the public structure.
The deplorable condition of the bridge is unacceptable and the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) has to answer to the public, the federal lawmakers said.
Lim also pointed out that there were supposed to be benches along the walkway, but there was none in sight today.
“Along the walkway, there are places with extended balconies where they are supposed to build benches for senior citizens and for pregnant ladies... but all we can see are bolts sticking out from the floor without the benches.
“This bridge should also be disabled-, OKU-friendly but escalators and lifts are not functioning at both ends of the bridge,” he said.
Lim also said that tactile paving, a system of textured ground surface indicators to assist visually impaired pedestrians, are missing for about 50 metres.
According to the DAP man, a worker at the Sultan Ismail LRT station told him that the contractor, Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd had not yet handed over the project to DBKL, as there was a number of things yet to be completed.
He went further, saying such a move only added to the list of projects under DBKL such as the automatic toilets, and electronic billboards at bus stops, which were not maintained, resulting in most of them not functioning.
Kuala Lumpur Mayor Datuk Seri Ahmad Phesal Talib had launched the bridge on July 8.
