APRIL 12 — The DASH highway has not lived up to its promise of easing congestion but has instead added new ways to make daily commutes hellish.
Perhaps we should just rename it the DAWDLE highway to acknowledge its addition of a bottleneck that no one asked for.
Now a new highway is coming to Petaling Jaya in the form of the PJD Link, which many PJ residents have spoken out against for years but it seems the construction date looms ever nearer.
I have looked at the map of how the highway will intersect huge swathes of PJ land and living next to a highway as well as a train line myself, the new highway will enrich developers while possibly lowering the quality of life for residents near the highway.
While I have gotten used to the hum of cars on the road, and the occasional rumble of trains going by, for some people the added noise pollution will be unpleasant.
My biggest question is: why do we keep doing this? Why do we keep building highways to ease congestion when all we get are congested highways?
Why do we put the needs of developers before residents and ignore the need for an efficient public transport system?
Why must we allow developers to profit while ignoring other means of revenue and refusing to diversify industries?
What is even more perplexing is that developers are being consulted on how to encourage people to buy more homes.
The problems in Malaysia are myriad and complex, pertaining to various factors both structural and societal.
Yet how much longer will we be unable to face simple truths that stare at us in the face — people don’t buy homes because developers prefer building upmarket properties and congestion’s main source is too many cars on the road.
With Umno looking poised to retake Selangor in the state elections by being handed seats on a silver plate, I wonder, really, if this was worth our prime minister finally getting the position he had coveted all these long years.
I hope PJ residents will not stop shouting for the end to the PJD Link ambitions but I hope they save some breath because the way this administration still courts big business, there will be a lot of shouting left to be done.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
