KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 — A furtive attempt to revive a strongly-resisted highway is providing fresh support and impetus to residents groups fighting Selangor on at least two other such projects.

The anti-highway groups believe they have found the perfect tool to sway more residents to their side in their march against the Selangor government next month.

Several grassroots groups that have banded together to object the construction of three major highways crisscrossing Malaysia’s most industrial state — the Damansara-Shah Alam Highway (DASH), the Shah Alam-Ulu Kelang Expressway (SUKE) and the East Klang Valley Expressway (EKVE) — said some Petaling Jaya residents want in on their June 4 rally after hearing about the proposed Petaling Jaya Dispersal Link (PJD Link), seen as a revival of the scrapped Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex).

"The June 4 rally is organised by the committees of Say No to SUKE and Say No to DASH (SNTD) with support from residents and NGOs who are affected by the EKVE highway. We are still working out the details and were initially only planning a protest against three highways.

"Now that the PJ Dispersal Link (aka Kidex 2.0) has surfaced, PJ residents affected by this highway have also indicated that they will participate in the rally to show solidarity and support," Say No To Kidex (SNTK) and SNTD committee member Mak Khuin Weng told Malay Mail Online.

"The organisers are of the opinion that the present Selangor government is arrogant and not representative of public concerns and are far more interested in bickering about who should contest in elections instead of dealing with the serious administrative issues plaguing Selangor," he added.

The rally will take place at the Kelab Darul Ehsan in Ampang Jaya on the first Saturday of June at 9am.

The PJD Link expressway is a 34.3km dual-carriage expressway with four lanes and eight interchanges/ramps, according to the information published in the promotional pamphlet sighted by Malay Mail Online.

Similar to Kidex, the new proposed expressway is to act as an alternative to the heavily-trafficked Lebuhraya-Damansara Puchong (LDP), providing access to the fast-growing development corridor connecting Damansara, Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam, Puchong, Kinrara and Putrajaya.

Last year, Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azmin Ali denied he was responsible for the SUKE, DASH and EKVE highway projects, and that the approvals for these projects were issued up to six years ago.