KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 18 — Critics opposing two Selangor highway projects want Azmin Ali to explain why another highway plan, the Eastern Klang Valley Expressway (EKVE) was left out of the 2035 state structure plan, claiming it showed bias on the part of the mentri besar.
Say No to Kidex (SNTK) committee member Mak Khuin Weng and Say No to Dash's (SNTD) Michelle Wong pointed out that while it was true that the Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) had proposed six highways to be included in the 2035 state plan, only five highways were incorporated into the recently-released public report.
The EKVE highway project said Wong and Mak, was missing from the plan, despite MB Azmin stating otherwise.
"Coming back to the Laporan Tinjauan (survey report), we would like to point out that the Kuala Lumpur Outer Ring Road (KLORR) was removed from the list of suggested highways. KLORR, also known as the Eastern Klang Valley Expressway (EKVE), was heavily protested by environmental non-government organisations because a portion of it would cut through the Ampang Forest Reserve.
"This shows that due consideration was given to all the highways, and KLORR was dropped from being further incorporated in the Selangor Structure Plan after the Selangor government gave it due consideration," SNTK and SNTD said in a joint statement today.
"The fact that all the other highways remain mentioned within the Laporan Tinjauan (survey report) clearly shows a bias on the part of the Selangor government in seriously considering the rest of the highways as projects to be considered," they added, saying that the fact remains that the entire long-term structural plan is merely a continuation of existing policies implemented by the former state mentri besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim.
Earlier today, Azmin defended his administration’s inclusion of several contentious highway projects in the state’s 2035 structural plan, saying the report was merely aimed at procuring public feedback before a proper draft is made.
He stressed that the released document is a “survey report”, and by no means indicated any endorsement of the projects, which he listed as the Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex), the Damansara-Shah Alam expressway (Dash), the Serdang-Kinrara-Putrajaya expressway (Skip), the Sungai Besi-Ulu Kelang expressway (Suke), the Eastern Klang Valley expressway (Ekve) and the Pantai Barat expressway.
“To this end, the state government encourages the public and interested parties to submit their views on the survey report on Selangor’s 2035 structural plan so that the state can obtain thorough input before amending clauses at the draft level of the Selangor 2035 structural plan in the future,” Azmin said in a statement here.
The Bukit Antarabangsa assemblymen assured that public feedback would be a core factor in the state government’s drafting of the structural plan, and that his administration was always “open and committed” to include residents in the state’s future town planning.
“It must be stressed that these (highway) proposals are suggestions from the Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) and are still subject to the views of interested parties and the agreement of the state government,” Azmin explained.
