PETALING JAYA, July 27 — The Petaling Jaya City Council should commission new environmental and traffic assessments for the controversial Damansara-Shah Alam Expressway (DASH) as the existing studies are “invalid and flawed”, residents claimed today.
Say No To DASH (SNTD) — made up of Petaling Jaya residents opposed to the new highway project — claimed that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Traffic Impact Assessment (TIA) submitted to the local council were questionable as they were both funded by the highway’s developer, Prolintas Bhd.
“We feel that an independent study should be done. The EIA and TIA are paid for by the project proponent, they are not independent,” SNTD spokesman Michelle Wong said after a hearing on Petaling Jaya 2 local plan here.
Taking the example of the TIA, Wong said the validity of the 2011 study was to have expired last year but was instead extended to September 2016, despite the fact that there have since been new roads and housing estates built, apart from the ongoing Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) development.
“This highway has no benefits and the MRT also runs into Kota Damansara so why is DASH being considered when MRT is not included in the assessment?” she said.
Fellow SNTD representative Manimaran Veerappan also claimed that the EIA was based on a study lasting just 24 hours, which was too short a time to evaluate the full impact the elevated highway project might have on the health of residents in the area.
Selangor state executive councillor Elizabeth Wong chaired the hearing between MBPJ and residents but declined to comment on the issue, citing a conflict of interest after having previously expressed her support for the SNTD movement.
She did explain, however, that while the DASH was still part of the RTPJ2 amendments, the proposed segments of the highway that stretch to Damansara Perdana and Mutiara Damansara, which residents have fiercely opposed due to environmental concerns in the high-density area, have been removed.
“So now it’ll only go until the NKVE. It will stop there,” she said, referring to the North Klang Valley Expressway.
On April 24, MBPJ removed the proposed DASH from the Petaling Jaya 2 Local Plan (RTPJ2) to allow further studies following widespread public objection over the controversial project.
The DASH alignment was originally inserted into the Local Plan earlier last year despite objections from PJ residents.
According to Prolintas, DASH will be a 20.1km, three-lane, dual carriageway expressway starting from Puncak Perdana in Shah Alam to the Penchala interchange.
With 12 interchanges, the RM11.5 billion proposed expressway was to link drivers to Lebuhraya Damansara Puchong and Sprint highways, which residents claim are already congested during peak hours.
DASH would 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.
