New highway on the way?

PJ residents receive pamphlets that the Petaling Jaya Dispersal Link, to run a route similar to that of the axed Kidex project, is being planned.

PETALING JAYA: Plans for the construction of the Petaling Jaya Dispersal Link (PJD) — an elevated highway along a similar route as the recently-axed Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex) — have surfaced.

According to a report in the Malay Mail Online, the project appears to be undertaken by a company called PJD Link Holdings Sdn Bhd, which specialises in surface work on streets, roads, highways, bridges and tunnels.

Promotional pamphlets about the project were distributed to Petaling Jaya residents earlier this week by the company.

According to the pamphlets, the PJD will start from the intersection of the North Klang Valley Expressway and link up the townships of Bandar Utama, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Petaling Jaya, Taman Datuk Harun, Taman Medan Baru, Taman Sri Manja and Bandar Kinrara.

It will end at the Bukit Jalil interchange linking road users to a proposed new highway. Eight interchanges will be built to support rapid development along the alignment covering Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya, Puchong and Bandar Kinrara.

However, the alignment for the expressway has yet to be finalised, according to sources who added that the firm is currently conducting market research to obtain feedback from residents and stakeholders, the report said.

The company’s Dataran Prima office apparently shares the same address as one of the key firms behind Kidex, Emrail Sdn Bhd, as discovered by anti-Kidex lobby group Say No to Kidex (SNTK).

“Section 14 residents’ association chairman Selve Sugumaran and I went to the address printed on the flyer and confirmed that PJD Link Holdings’ address in fact led us to Emrail. We were cordially met by Emrail’s corporate communications team,” SNTK committee member Mak Khuin Weng was quoted as saying by Malay Mail Online.

“The details are scant, but it was confirmed that there is a proposal to do the project. The Emrail corporate communications spokesperson told us to write in to them to find out about the PJD Link.”

However, Emrail deputy chairman Hari Narayanan denied knowledge of his company’s involvement with PJD Link Holdings.

“I don’t know, but we are not involved in any highway project. Kidex yes, but that project is no more, so we are not involved,” he told Malay Mail Online.

Petaling Jaya city councillor Lee Suet Sen cautioned PJD Link Holdings against circulating pamphlets of the highway plan to residents.

“Any proposal without approval from the state and MBPJ should not be circulated among PJ residents. This is not ethical and professional as due process should be followed,” he said.

Lee said neither the State Government nor the MBPJ had received any proposal for a new expressway in that area.