SHAH ALAM, July 5 ― With a potential storm brewing over the furtive approval for yet another highway in Selangor, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim said today he will approach the Malaysian Highway Board (LLM) to explain plans to build six more expressways here.
The Selangor mentri besar insisted his administration has been “very transparent” on the issue, stressing that the state at this point has agreed only in principle, pending the fulfilment of various requirements.
“To avoid confusion, I have asked the highway authority to explain their plan for the next 20 years, together with the state planning unit,” he said at a news conference here.
This morning, The Malay Mail Online reported of the inclusion of the Serdang-Kinrara-Putrajaya Expressway (Skip) in Subang Jaya’s local city plan without — as one former councillor asserts — public hearings on the matter.
Khalid brushed aside claims that Skip was never part of key public hearings in 2012 to discuss amendments to Selangor’s local city plan, saying that public hearings are only part of the entire process of planning the state’s development.
The mentri besar said the Skip project —which is part of a multi-billion ringgit plan to build six new highways in Selangor — mustt be viewed from the “overall” perspective.
He added that the state government cannot simply change its mind due to pressure, as it is mandated to push ahead with development in the interest of the state and its residents.
“Individuals can support something today, and tomorrow say no, and the day after say they support it. A government cannot do that. Once a government makes a decision, it must abide by it.
“This is not just me... this is about continuity. We have to think ahead so that the MB 20 years from now will accept the decisions made (today),” he said.
Earlier a former member on the Subang Jaya local council claimed that Skip was recently shunted into the state’s local city plan despite not being part of the 2012 public hearings.
Rajiv Rishyakaran, now DAP’s Bukit Gasing state assemblyman, claimed that the highway has been included in amendments to the Subang Jaya city blueprints despite nary a mention in the official report on all amendments prepared by the Selangor Town and Country Planning Department in February 2012.
Rishyakaran was among the earliest in a growing number of critics who have questioned Khalid’s administration over the opaque manner in which it is handling the highway projects.
The highway debacle only added on to Khalid’s troubles, as Selangor’s chief executive continues to wrangle with the on-going water shortage issue in the country’s richest state.
The twin issues have fanned persistent rumours of attempts within the Pakatan Rakyat coalition to oust the embattled mentri besar, especially over his move to close ranks with the rival Barisan Nasional coalition to solve Selangor’s water woes.
When asked to respond to the alleged unease among PR leaders over his cordial ties with BN, Khalid said he will work with any party if it means the people of Selangor will benefit.
“My stance with anybody is for the benfit of the people of Selangor. I’ll work with the Japanese, the Koreans, BN, PAS, DAP... I will work with them because that benefits the state.
“Some things I will agree (with), some I don’t, but everything is based on public interest,” he said.
