SHAH ALAM, March 10 — The proposed Damansara-Shah Alam Highway (Dash) should be held to the same standard as the cancelled Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex), to make sure it brings actual benefit to the residents affected by the highway alignment, a protest group said today.

Say No To Dash (SNTD) claimed that the developer of the 20.1 kilometre highway, Prolintas, had failed to fulfil the three stipulations that Selangor Mentri Besar Azmin Ali had earlier laid out for Kidex.

“We haven’t asked to kill the entire project like Kidex, only the Damansara Perdana part,” Alvin Chin, one of the group’s representatives said at a news conference after a meeting with the Selangor State Town and Country Planning Department.

“We want development, but in a proper manner which makes PJ more liveable,” added Chin, who lives in Damansara Perdana.

SNTD argued that Dash had yet to pass a cost-benefit analysis that should include environmental and traffic impact assessments, nor had the developer make the concession agreement public.

They also noted the alleged lack of public consultation, with a study carried out by the group estimating that nearly 12,000 residents of Damansara Perdana would be adversely affected by Dash.

Another SNTD representative, Michelle Wong, claimed that the proposed Dash alignment would allegedly bring it as close to 11 metres to condominiums in the Damansara Perdana section of the planned highway.

“People from Shah Alam accuse us of being selfish. But even if I was a Shah Alam resident, I wouldn’t be in favour of something that would go so close to any home,” she said.

Wong said one possible solution would be for Prolintas to finish the highway at Mutiara Damansara — which is just before Damansara Perdana — as it would then give motorists from Shah Alam direct access to the New Klang Valley Expressway (NKVE) that would take them straight to Kuala Lumpur.

In February, SNTD vowed to hold Azmin to his pledge to apply the same standard that led to his cancellation of the Kidex to other highway projects.

SNTD also reminded Azmin of the promise he made after a meeting with the group last year to engage with Prolintas and the Malaysian Highway Authority to register their concerns over the current plan to run the highway through the Damansara Perdana area.

The proposed Dash highway would connect Puncak Perdana to Penchala.

Last month, Azmin announced that Selangor was cancelling Kidex as the developer had failed to meet every stipulation set by his administration by February 14.

The cancellation of the RM2.42-billion highway project came after Selangor residents held a protest last month against Kidex and Dash.