Works Minister Fadhilah Yusof has been accused of attempting to mislead the public by claiming that the Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex) will reduce traffic in Petaling Jaya and Puchong by 20 to 30 percent.

 

Petaling Jaya MP Tony Pua pointed out that Fadhilah's claim is only based on selected roads out of a total of 43 that will be affected by the highway to be built by Kidex Sdn Bhd.

 

"The preliminary Traffic Impact Assessment (TIA) report presented to the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) indicated that major roads such as Jalan Bukit Jalil Indah will face a projected increase of 233 percent, Jalan Changgai (109 percent), Jalan Sultan (58 percent) and Jalan Barat (35 percent).

 

"Hence when the impact on all 43 roads were taken into account, there was only a projected 5.8 percent and 3 percent overall reduction in traffic for 2020 and 2028 respectively," he said in a statement today.

 

Fadhilah had earlier disputed these figures which was first raised by Damansara Utama state assemblyperson Yeo Bee Yin ( right ), insisting that research supported the federal government's estimates.

 

"These figures cited by the DAP assemblypersons were not plucked off the sky or produced on our own, but are extracted directly from the very documents which Fadhillah claimed were presented to MBPJ.

 

"Hence we will like to challenge the works minister to present his 'research' which allegedly supports the estimate of an overall reduction of 20 to 30 percent in traffic in Petaling Jaya and Puchong.  

 

"If Fadhillah has problems reading and understanding the preliminary TIA, we will be more than happy to bring the calculator to his office in Putrajaya," said Pua.

 

'Is 5.8 percent worth RM2.42bil?'

 

Instead of attempting to defend the controversial expressway, Pua said the minister should question the rationale for the RM2.42 billion concession if the highway can only cut traffic by 5.8 percent when it is completed.

 

"In addition, if Fadhillah really places the interests of the rakyat ahead of the concessionaires, then he should immediately reveal the toll rates to be charged and the rate of return for the highway company as signed in the concession agreement," he added.

 

Pua ( right ) said DAP will call for a suspension of all approval processes at the Selangor government level if the federal government and developer refuse full disclosure on the highway.

 

On Friday, Yeo had slammed Kidex chief executive officer Shaharizuan Shafiei for "creative mathematics" after claiming the highway will reduce traffic by 20 to 30 percent at 23 local roads.

 

Yeo had pointed out that the concessionaire had selectively presented roads that had a positive impact but ignored other roads which saw a severe increase in traffic.

 

"Showing only the roads with 20 to 30 percent traffic reduction is akin to a retailer that puts up the label 'sales up to 70 percent' at the window display but actually only a few items in the shop are at 70 percent discount. 

 

"While it works well in retail, it will definitely not work for the Kidex evaluation," she had said.