It is with great disappointment that we, the residents of Damansara Perdana and Mutiara Damansara, heard that the Damansara-Shah Alam Highway (DASH) will proceed in the Budget 2015 speech by our Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Despite the utter lack of details and studies available for public scrutiny, this project is being bulldozed through against the wishes of residents in our area and brazenly disregarding the voices and interests of the residents.

It was only a few days ago (Oct 8, 2014) that resident representatives of Damansara Perdana and Mutiara Damansara met with Bukit Lanjan assemblyperson YB Elizabeth Wong to discuss on the status for the DASH. This was a follow-up meeting that was held on Sept 10, 2014 with YB Elizabeth and Subang MP YB Sivarasa Rasiah.

We have raised concerns on how the Selangor government gave approval to DASH - even if it was a conditional one - despite heavy objections from over 5000 residents since 2012.

We also expressed concern how the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) came about to include DASH in RTPJ 2, though now repealed, as well when there is doubt that feasibility studies for traffic and environment were done for DASH at all.

If there were studies, residents have not been briefed or given such information thus far and this goes against transparent and accountable governance that Pakatan Rakyat promised.

YB Elizabeth has assured us that all the issues involving the conditional approval, conflicting statements and lack of studies would be addressed by the MB and the Selangor exco.

Whether the traffic and environment studies were done or not, we have put on record that the methodology in which such studies are commissioned and done must be independent of the developer and must address social, health and safety risks.

As it stands, the residents do not want DASH to run through a densely populated and developed neighbourhood as it is hazardous to the health and safety of residents and commercial areas. YB Elizabeth has reaffirmed she supports this stand along with YB Sivarasa.

We had hoped that after our engagement with Pakatan Rakyat elected representatives we could approach the federal government to engage them and seek answers.

Rest assured the resident leaders of our community will endeavour to engage BN leaders still, but as it stands now, it appears that the federal government does not recognise the need to be answerable to the public, legal requirements nor whether the interests of its people really matters.

 

Please prove us wrong.

The writers are representatives of the Say No to DASH group.