Elizabeth Wong: Not feasible to acquire Jalan Tanjung land

Wong: Not feasible to acquire Jalan Tanjung land

IT IS not feasible for the Selangor state government to acquire the land to make Jalan Tanjung in Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya, a public road.

“A part of it belongs to the Bandar Utama developer but three quarters of it belong to the Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM),” said Bukit Lanjan assemblyman Elizabeth Wong during the launch of the Youth for Change programme at the 1 Utama Shoping Centre on Saturday.

It was recently announced that the road, which served as entrance and exit points for motorists travelling between Bandar Utama and Tropicana, would be closed.

For all to see: A signboard informing motorists that Jalan Tanjung would be turned into a one-way street for cars coming out of Tropicana starting from Nov 20.

Wong said proposals had already been submitted for expansion work on the Sprint and NKVE highways that run parallel to the road.

“Tropicana developer Dijaya Corporation should undertake the social responsibility to conduct a traffic study in the area as it has several developments there,” she said.

Wong said exit points were already available for residents in that area, with the approved one being the exit going out to BU11.

She added that about 20 new projects were expected to come up in the area and the developers of the current and upcoming projects should look into alternative routes.

Wong said the more sensible approach would be to find an access to get onto the NKVE.

Cause for concern: A bird’s eye view of the Lebuh Bandar Utama bridge. Traffic is usually busy during rush hour with cars coming in from the Sprint Highway using the ramp (top right) and cars coming from Aman Suria and Kampung Chempaka from the right of the bridge.

She also stressed that the ultimate solution was public transport and not to build more roads.

Bandar Utama Development Sdn Bhd director Datuk Teo Chiang Kok said the road was initially used as a service road when construction of the Tropicana area began 12 years ago.

“We initially agreed to let them use the road for two years but it has gone on for 12 years,” said Teo.

He said during the meetings held with residents, many of the residents association representatives had agreed to the implementation of a one-way traffic coming out of Tropicana for six months.

“The area behind Bandar Utama is four to five times bigger in terms of density and the traffic from there was never meant to spill into Bandar Utama,” said Teo.

Dijaya Corporation Berhad executive director C.H. Quek acknowleged that there was an agreement signed between the two parties to use the land belonging to Bandar Utama Development Sdn Bhd as a temporary access.

“We have completed the permanent access (Persiaran Tropicana) but it was originally only meant to cater to traffic from our development. Circumstances have changed since then and traffic in the area has increased from the many developments in the area. Even motorists from Kota Damansara and Sg Buloh are using the roads to get to Bandar Utama,” said Quek.

He said the permanent access through Persiaran Tropicana should be an addition to the Jalan Tanjung access and not a replacement in view of the additional developments that had mushroomed.

He added that it was unlikely that PLUS or the LLM would use the highway reserve for widening work because there was a constriction beneath the Lebuh Bandar Utama bridge with only two lanes heading towards Damansara, and there would be a bottleneck from the six lanes at the toll plaza.

He added that for the sake of public interest, the road should remain a public road as the part belonging to Bandar Utama amounted to only a small area of about 800sq metres.

Quek said although the traffic light system would be reduced by one phase (from Jalan Tanjung), when the road was closed, the green time for traffic heading towards Centrepoint from BU11 would need to be increased to cater to the additional traffic so the waiting time for other cars remain unchanged.

A PLUS Highway spokesman said they did not have any plans to extend their Damansara toll plaza.

Source : STAR

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