BUKIT MERTAJAM, July 27 — Several roads here will be closed to traffic this weekend for the annual St Anne’s Feast celebration.
Seberang Perai Tengah District Police chief ACP Tan Cheng San said the road closure will begin at 9am on Saturday (July 30) until 3pm Sunday (July 31), involving the routes from Bukit Mertajam to Kulim, Kedah and vice versa.
“The roads that will be closed are Jalan Kulim, namely from in front of the Caltex petrol station heading to the traffic light junction of Taman Bukit Indah, Jalan Tenang, Jalan Taman B and Jalan Sepakat.
“Commuters heading to Kulim from Bukit Mertajam will be diverted to an alternative route, namely Jalan Kampung Baru heading towards Jalan Rozhan while those from Kulim will be diverted to Jalan Sepakat and Jalan Taman B heading towards Jalan Kampung Baru,” he said at a media conference here today.
He said the religious festival actually began on July 22 and traffic control, including placing traffic personnel at the main intersections, had been carried out, but without any road closures until July 29.
Tan said there would be a candle-lit procession from 7pm on July 30 that will begin from door number three of the St Anne’s Church heading towards Jalan Berjaya, Jalan Kulim, Jalan Datuk Ooh Chooi Cheng, Jalan Arumugam Pillai, Jalan Aston and Jalan Usahaniaga.
He said they will then make their way back through Jalan Kulim towards door number one of the church, with the 3.5-kilometre (km) procession expected to end at 11pm.
“Traffic control duty for the religious festival is expected to be fully completed at 3pm on Sunday and the closed roads will be fully re-opened after that,” he said.
He hoped motorists and local residents would give their cooperation to ensure smooth travel and public order.
The church said that over 100,000 people are expected to attend the 10-day religious festival celebration. — Bernama
