Objection to proposed LRT route

Monday December 14, 2009
By FAZLEENA AZIZ

RESIDENTS of Taman Bunga Negara, Subang Alam and Putra Heights are urging Syarikat Prasarana Negara Sdn Bhd (Prasarana) to consider the new LRT route for the area proposed by the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA).

The residents are not pleased with Prasarana’s proposed route from Kelana Jaya to Putra Heights Station 11 and 12 that is sandwiched between housing areas in Shah Alam and Subang.

They said Prasarana had not allowed them to put forward their suggestions and objections with regard to the LRT line.

According the residents, the new route proposed by the MBSA runs an extra 1.2km compared with the Prasarana route.

They want the route to run via the industrial and commercial area in Shaha Alam to Putra Heights Station 13 (Kelana Jaya).

Representing the Putra Heights residents, Prem Kaur, 45, said Prasarana had not even consulted the MBSA on its proposed LRT route.

She said the MBSA had given the new proposed route to Prasarana even before the proposed route was made available for public viewing.

“Kota Raja MP Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud is aware of this matter and will bring it up to the mentri besar,” she said.

According to Prem, the MBSA route runs through commercial and industrial areas and the city council had said it was willing to alienate land for the project should there be a problem with land acquisition.

She added that the route affected more than 10,000 people from Shah Alam and Subang.

The Taman Bunga Negara, Subang Alam and Putra Heights joint action committee against Prasarana LRT Route Station 11 & 12 presented a memorandum on their objection to the proposed line to Sri Muda assemblyman Shuhaimi Shafiei at Masjid Al Munawarah in Shah Alam on Friday.

Shuhaimi pointed out that before any development was carried out, objections from the residents must be taken into consideration. A proper study of the matter was also needed, with input from residents, councils and all affected parties. However, no social impact assessment was made on the matter.

“In principle, the state exco has approved the project but it needs to be studied again to avoid any dissatisfaction among the people.

“The residents find that the LRT route is not appropriate as it is located near Tenaga Nasional Bhd’s (TNB) high voltage cables.

“The density of the area through which the line runs is low and the station will be located near the housing area, which will result in parking problems in the future,” he said.

He also said the proposed route for the feeder bus was not up to par based on previous experience as it involved main roads.

The different elevation of the land along the route was another concern raised by the residents.

Star