Court orders Selangor authority to hand over PJD Link reports to residents

Summary

• The Kuala Lumpur High Court orders the Selangor State Town Country Planning Department to hand four crucial reports over the controversial proposed Petaling Jaya Dispersal Link highway to four residents.

• The Petaling Jaya residents claim they have a right to access the documents as they would be directly and indirectly affected by the project.

Four Petaling Jaya residents obtained a civil court order to compel the Selangor State Town Country Planning Department to hand over four crucial documents over the controversial proposed Petaling Jaya Dispersal Link (PJD Link) highway to them.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court today allowed the residents' judicial review to secure the reports on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), the Social Impact Assessment (SIA), the Traffic Impact Assessment (TIA), and the alignment of the highway.

In confirming the outcome of the proceedings, the residents' counsel Lim Wei Jiet said the court did not grant their bid to obtain the project's concession agreement because of Official Secrets Act (OSA) reasons.

The lawyer said judge Amarjeet Singh ordered the state department to give the four reports within 30 days from today.

On June 7, 2023, the four residents filed legal action over the alleged refusal by the authorities to abide by a seven-day ultimatum to hand over the project’s documents.

According to a copy of the affidavit in support of the legal action, Petaling Jaya resident T Chakaravarthi contended they were forced to resort to the judicial review leave application as the authorities failed to respond to the ultimatum.

Chakaravarthi contended that as the residents would be directly and indirectly affected by the PJD Link project, they have a right to access the documents in order to obtain comprehensive and in-depth information on the scope, impact, and related terms of the project.

The Petaling Jaya residents also contended, among others, that they need to access the SIA report to ascertain the impact of the PJD Link project on the local community and their activities, taking into account factors such as whether the project was accepted by the community.

Chakaravarthi claimed they also need to access the project’s concession agreement to allow residents and the general public to give their input on whether the terms are one-sided to the company involved in it, or whether the terms do not benefit the local community or environment.

The group previously launched an independent SIA report with the participation of 2,501 residents impacted by the proposed PJD Link highway alignment.

The purpose of the survey stemmed from an alleged lack of transparency regarding the official SIA and to obtain the views of stakeholders in the PJD Link construction area.

The online survey held from Feb 6 to May 1 this year concluded that 88.6 percent of respondents strongly disagreed with the PJD Link.

Additionally, 93.6 percent of respondents stated they and their families will be impacted by this project.

Final approval

Damansara Kim resident Dominic Wong reportedly said the group’s independent SIA was submitted to PlanMalaysia Selangor and Putrajaya on May 12 for consideration.

The group’s SIA was also submitted to the Environment Department.

On July 5, 2022, the Works Ministry stated that the cabinet had already approved, in principle, the PJD Link on Nov 12, 2017. The final approval was, however, subject to further negotiations.

According to the statement, a concession agreement was signed on April 5, 2022, which required the developer to fulfil the EIA, SIA, and TIA’s requirements before the agreement could take effect and construction could begin.

According to the PJD Link website, it will have a total of 11 interchanges spanning from Bandar Utama to the Bukit Jalil Highway, connecting with expressways such as the Federal Highway, Sprint, New Pantai Expressway, and Kesas Highway.

On June 15, 2023, Works Minister Alexander Nanta Linggi said there was no need to declassify the PJD Link concession agreement despite earlier urgings by three PKR MPs - Wong Chen (Subang), Lee Chean Chung (Petaling Jaya), and William Leong Jee Keen (Selayang) - for the government to consider the declassification.

Lawyers Joshua Wu and Nevyn Vinosh Venudran also acted for the four PJ residents.

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