Pressure mounts on Selangor MB to declare PJD Link is completely off

Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) has urged the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government to give an undertaking that it would not entertain any future proposal to revive the controversial PJD Link highway project, following hints by Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari last night that there was a chance for it to be re-considered.

It said that despite Amirudin announcing the project's cancellation yesterday, the company behind the plan could still exert pressure on the state government in the future.

"The Selangor state government and the central government must commit not to entertain any proposals from private companies and must follow up with a moratorium on new highway constructions in the Klang Valley area," said PSM's coordinator for Petaling Jaya, Gandipan Nantha Gopalan.

Yesterday, Amirudin announced that PJD Link, or Petaling Jaya Dispersal, would not go ahead, citing dissatisfaction with the impact assessment reports.

Amirudin had also claimed that it was the Perikatan Nasional that had approved the project in 2022, despite the government of Muhyiddin Yassin being toppled just a year earlier.

PSM said although the majority of residents had protested against PJD Link, Amirudin had, as recently as July 14 this year, indicated during a radio interview that he was not willing to cancel the project.

"The environmental impact assessment (EIA) report has already been prepared and submitted by the PJD Link company to the state government before April 5, 2023. Why was this decision not made after receiving the EIA report? What has changed now?

"This decision seems to have been made only to score political points during the state election," said Gandipan.

Yesterday, youth party Muda vowed to maintain pressure on authorities to not revive PJD Link.

"We have witnessed this political drama before, and history has shown that projects like these can resurface under different names," said Muda's Bukit Gasing candidate, VKK Raja.

The PJD Link, a four-lane dual expressway that will commence after the NKVE toll plaza on the Sprint Highway and end at the Bukit Jalil Highway Interchange, was rebranded from the Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex) project that was cancelled in 2015 by then-menteri besar Mohamed Azmin Ali.

The highway will pass through state constituencies such as Bukit Gasing, Bandar Utama, and Kinrara, all of which are strongholds of the PH coalition, which is hoping to retain power in the state, this time together with Barisan Nasional.

PSM, meanwhile, urged the state to release the EIA as well as the traffic impact assessment and social impact assessment reports for public scrutiny.

"The state government should not classify important development concession agreements that affect the people's well-being under the Official Secrets Act.

"The people have the right to know and access the contents of the documents, as this is our democratic right," it added.