Four DAP assemblypersons have today urged Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim to listen to the people’s grouses over the Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex) project, following reports that he would not hold any meetings with affected residents.

The four - Yeo Bee Yin (Damansara Utama, right ), Rajiv Rishyakaran (Bukit Gasing), Ng Sze Han (Kinrara) and Lau Weng San (Bukit Tunku) said they hope the MB can meet the people in Petaling Jaya to hold dialogues with them to understand the anxiety of the affected residents.

This follows their allegation that the project lacks information on the details of the highway alignment.

“This is especially true for those whose land is among the 3,784 lots affected by the land freeze for possible compulsory acquisition.

 

“Although the Kidex Sdn Bhd chief executive officer, Mohd Nor Idrus, has said the acquisition will involve only 10 percent of the 3,784 lots and only minimally on the residential lots, the anxiety has been growing among residents due to the uncertainty over their lands for which possible acquisition notices had been served on July 31, last year.”

Khalid was quoted to have said that he would not meet with the affected residents until he received feedback from the relevant agencies.

In addition, they said without a detailed Traffic Impact Assessment, the residents staying near the proposed alignment will not be able to assess the highway’s impact on their day-to-day lives.

The four assemblypersons are concerned as the Selangor state government had announced it had given the go-ahead for the project in principle without ensuring a proper channel for residents to gain information.

Khalid, they said, should understand the people’s frustration over the Kidex project with the federal government as the 14.9km elevated highway costs RM2.42 billion, which makes it more than RM162 million per kilometre.

“We hope Khalid can understand the people’s anger towards the lack of transparency by the relevant agencies. Kidex has not been able to furnish the public with detailed highway alignment and Traffic Impact Assessment.

 

“Although this is a federal project, they are supposed to justify the merits of the projects as well as the costs, and the state government must use its authority over land to push for transparency and accountability. The MB should not be on the federal government’s side nor on the developer’s but the people of Selangor’s,” they said in the statement.