PETALING Jaya residents opposed to the Petaling Jaya Dispersal Link (PJD Link) mega highway project are set to take their objections to the Dewan Rakyat, demanding the project be scrapped.

Stakeholders-cum-Residents Against PJD Link (SCRAP) spokesman David Yoong said the group was in the middle of preparing a memorandum to be submitted to Works Minister Fadillah Yusof.

“We are planning to submit the memorandum to Fadilah before the sitting ends next week.

“The context is to highlight the reasons why the people are against the project,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Yoong said that Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin will be organising a delegation of up to seven people from various residents associations to go to Parliament.

“We hope that the minister will be able to give us some time to present our reasons why the project should be scrapped.

“The gist of it is the impact on the residents, the elderly, the environment, noise and dust pollution, traffic and other factors.”

On Saturday, about 80 residents and supporters staged a peaceful protest at Lebuh Bandar Utama to protest against PJD Link.

This second protest in July saw residents from Bandar Utama, SS20 Damansara Kim, Section 4, Damansara Utama, Damansara Jaya, SS2 and other Petaling Jaya areas objecting to the project.

The first protest by SCRAP was on July 2, when about 100 residents gathered near the Section 14 mosque.

The protesters carried placards that read: “Say No to PJDLink tolled highway” in support of their protest.

Yoong said the group is also drafting a memorandum to be presented to Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari and exco Izham Hashim, which should be done by the end of the week.

On Sunday, Amirudin said the state government would reject any future highway development project if it brought no benefit to the people of the state.

Speaking at a Pakatan Harapan event in Kota Damansara, he denied Selangor had given the go-ahead for the project.

He said the developer was to have provided the state government with a study on the reaction of affected residents to the project.

“Once the study is completed, they will have to come to us and brief us.

“That is our agreement; we didn’t agree to allow them to carry on with the project and to date they have not come to us to present what they have derived from the study.

“Therefore, it wasn’t us who gave them the green light, it was the federal government. I can guarantee that we will object to any development plan or project that does not bring benefits or improvements to the lives of the people of Selangor, whether it is the PJD Link, PJM Link or whatever.”

Meanwhile, Yoong welcomed Amirudin’s comments, saying that the residents were hopeful for a positive outcome.

“This highway is bringing a lot of anxiety and hardship to residents here. We hope to engage with the menteri besar to address this issue,” he said.

It was reported that PJD Link, Putrajaya-Bangi Expressway (PBE) and Kuala Lumpur Northern Dispersal Expressway (KL-Node) projects have obtained approvals in principle from the government.

Petaling Jaya residents have opposed the proposed 34.3km dual carriageway since 2016, as well as its Kidex incarnation, saying the elevated highway would cut through their neighbourhoods and affect up to 1,000 homes.

The residents said the proposed highway would bring enormous traffic flow, carbon emissions, air pollution, and noise and visual disturbances.

It was reported that the proposed highway was to run along Jalan Penchala and Jalan Sultan (PJ Sentral), crossing the Federal Highway towards Jalan Professor Khoo Kay Khim (previously Jalan Semangat) and Jalan Harapan, and then turning west along the Sprint Highway towards the New Klang Valley Expressway Damansara toll plaza. – July 27, 2022.