KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 — Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim must place the needs and concerns of residents who are against the Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex) above all other interested groups, four Selangor state lawmakers said today.

In a joint statement, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran, Ng Sze Han and Lau Weng San called on the Selangor mentri besar to have a “dialogue” with the affected residents, saying that they were concerned with Khalid’s continued refusal to meet them over the controversial RM2.42 billion federal project.

“Although this is a federal project and they are supposed to justify the merits of the project as well as the cost of it, the state government must use its authority over land to push for transparency and accountability.

“The Menteri Besar should not side the federal government nor the developer but the people of Selangor,” said the four state assemblymen.

On top of the list of concerns, the four pointed there is a severe lack of information on the details of the highway alignment, and the fact that important documents such as the detailed traffic impact assessment have yet to be furnished by the project developer Kidex Sdn Bhd.

“Such worry gets worse when the state government announced to have given the project ‘approval in principle’ without ensuring a proper channel for the residents to obtain enough information.

“The 14.9km elevated highway costs RM2.42 billion, which is more than RM 162 million per kilometer. Such exuberant cost must be duly justified as the public money is involved, failing which the project should be called off,” they said.

Residents opposing the Kidex have demanded that MB Khalid call for a referendum in order to gauge whether Selangor constituents are in support of the proposed highway.

But Khalid has repeatedly maintained the Kidex would benefit the “majority” of Selangor residents in solving traffic congestion, and that his administration’s priority is to provide a better system to ease traffic congestion.

He has also said that the state had no power to reject the federal project, and that its authority was limited to fine-tuning the Kidex’s planned alignment route.

The Kidex project has been rejected on three occasions by the city council as developers had 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 the 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.