Kelana Jaya LRT track being built on ‘unsafe’ soil
PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli and several residents associations claimed that the track extension is being done on unsuitable soil near a quarry.
PETALING JAYA: PKR urged the state government to intervene in the Kelana Jaya LRT extension line project, which is currently under construction in Subang Alam and Putra Heights.
Speaking at a press conference at the party headquarters today, its strategic director Rafizi Ramli said that the track, passing across Subang Alam, is erected only 20 metres away from several houses at the residential area
“And 20 metres across the houses is a former quarry area which is submerged in water. This raises question on the suitability of the soil the track is being built on,” said Rafizi.
Also present were the Putra Heights residents action committee chairperson Prem Kaur Bahal Singh and Subang Alam residents action committee representative Ibrahim Abu Bakar.
Sharing her views, Prem said that when the project was mooted two years ago, her committee had appointed an expert geologist from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Tajul Anuar Jamaluddin, to study the safety aspect of the track extension at her residential area.
“We requested Syarikat Prasarana Bhd to provide paper works on the project in our meetings with them. They did provide a pile of papers to Tajul in June last year but it was incomplete.
“Even Tajul complained that some important papers were removed from the documents,” claimed Prem.
She also said that they had various meetings with nearly 13 agencies, including the Drainage and Irrigation Department, but claimed the agencies failed to give a proper answer on why approval was given to build the track near the quarry.
“Some even told us that we cannot argue with it as it’s a federal government’s project. Even the Railway Department failed to provide us answers,” alleged Prem.
Alternative site
Echoing Prem’s concerns, Ibrahim said that they have proposed to Prasarana to extend the track to an alternative site, which would also help the operator to get more passengers.
“It’s just that the alternative track is longer but it would be safe for everyone. However, Prasarana has not got back to us,” he said.
On whether the state has the power to stop a federal government project, Rafizi said Prasarana needs certain approvals from the local councils to continue the project.
“And the state government does have some power to ensure the local councils adhere to certain directives,” he said.
On why the state government had not acted on it earlier, Rafizi said the Pakatan Rakyat-led state government did not want to be accused of sabotaging development.
“We need to be fair but I think we now have enough evidence to intervene even if we risk being accused of sabotaging Prasarana’s project,” he said.
Read more: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2012/07/19/kelana-jaya-lrt-track-being-built-on-unsafe-soil/#ixzz21CwvLFqS
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