PETALING JAYA, June 8 — Riding on the success of the anti-Kidex highway movement, residents in Damansara Perdana are now putting up a fight against another proposed highway, which is expected to rip through the area populated by high-rise buildings.

The group has laid dormant for over two years until recently, when its members realised that work on the Damansara-Shah Alam Elevated Expressway (Dash) has started quietly.

“We realised that they have started their soil test... That’s how we know the project is on track,” Joanne Ting, a representative of the Say No To Dash (SNTD) group, told The Malay Mail Online.

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The group claimed that the developer, Prolintas Bhd, has tried to conceal that the soil test was for the Dash project and that it only found out after asking the workers.

As a first step towards its revival, the group held a meeting at the Perdana Emerald condominium here today, which saw the attendance of over 50 residents from neighbouring areas.

A guest speaker at the meeting was Mak Khuin Weng, who is part of the resistance against the Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex), which has received media spotlight recently.

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“One thing I’ve found out was that politicians of both sides were equally dishonest,” Mak said in relating his experience dealing with the both Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) federal and state governments.

The group said it met Elizabeth Wong about two weeks ago, but the PKR assemblyman offered little reassurance apart from saying that any approval needs to go through the state government first.

According to Prolintas, Dash will be a 20.1 km, 3-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 and Sprint highways, which residents claimed are already congested during peak hours.

Dash will serve motorists from Puncak Perdana, Alam Suria, Denai Alam, Kampung Melayu Subang, Jalan Sungai Buloh, the Rubber Research Institute Malaysia, Kota Damansara, Damansara Perdana and Mutiara Damansara, Prolintas said.

SNTD and the residents were concerned that in addition to traffic congestion, construction in the highly-populated area will be detrimental to their safety, health and the environment.