KL-Putrajaya Highway, Government Project Gone Bad

No 1 - Relevant laws, acts, guidelines and regulations have not been complied

The elevated highway on top of Jalan 2/149, Bandar Baru Sri Petaling is set back just 2.3 metres away from the existing 200+ residential houses.

1. Under JKR guideline, a highway required a minimum width reserve of 60 meters. The existing main road, Jalan 2/149 Bandar Baru Sri Petaling has only 32 meters width reserve, which does not fulfill the above requirement.

2. Under LLM guideline, all developments are required to have a minimun setback (buffer zone) of 19m from the “right-of-way” (ROW) of a highway. There is no buffer zone provided along Jalan 2/149 to separate the highway from the existing residential houses.

3. Under National Land Code (Act 56 of 1965) section 5, buildings are defined as any structure erected on land. With respect to public health, safety and protection of environment, the planning guidelines required minimum separation distances measured between buildings or structures to property boundaries. The elevated building structure of the highway which set back 2metres from the property boundaries along Jalan 2/149 can never comply with any act, bylaws and guidelines.

4. Under the Environmental Act 1972, maximum levels of noise and air pollutions are defined for residential areas. The cumulative noise and air pollution generated by the existing road and elevated highway would far exceed the levels permitted by the Act. To-date, we have yet to be convinced by the relevant authorities that mitigation measures to be taken could reduce the noise and air pollution levels to the compliance limits.

No 2 – Important concepts and pertinent information were not provided and adhered in the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) reports, which defied the objective of EIA

1. The two important concepts excluded from the EIA report and supplementary EIA report dated June 1997 and April 2003 respective are :

Project options/route options : unable the assessor to examine and select the best project option/route option. In fact there were plenty of route options available at the time the Project was initiated and these options are still available. These options are

1. Follow Besraya Highway and bypass Bandar Baru Sri Petaling
2. Follow Seremban Highway and bypass Bandar Baru Sri Petaling
3. Shift the alignment towards Zone N of Bandar Baru Sri Petaling, which was still undeveloped at that time to provide adequate buffer zone on both sides of the highway

Public participation : valid assessment of a project on the community cannot be made without some form of public participation as public participation is the most reliable way of predicting the impact of the project on people.

2. The pertinent information not provided in the abovementioned EIA reports are as follow:

• The reserve width of Jalan 2/149
• The setback of the elevated highway from the property boundaries at the most critical area along Jalan 2/149.Instead it mentioned that a kinder garden located along Jalan 2/149 with its backyard 8metres away from the Right of Way (ROW)
• The potential significant cumulative impacts generated by the existing road and the proposed highway
• Evidence to support that these impacts are no longer significant

No 3 - The relevant authorities failed to carry out their responsibilities

When the highway Project was approved in 1997, Zone N of Bandar Baru Sri Petaling abutting Jalan 2/149 has not been developed. Amazingly, the relevant approving authorities had allowed the housing development to proceed subsequently without provision of buffer zone along the approved highway Project. The following authorities should be fully responsible for :

• Lembaga Lebuhraya Malaysia (LLM) : failure to impose on the housing development a 19metres setback from ROW of the highway
• Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL) : failure to impose or serve requisition notice under section 30 of Town and Country Planning Act 1976 (Act172) to impose on the housing development to provide buffer zone along the proposed highway

The above non compliance have caused anger and frustration among the residents who are affected by the construction.

Available land for highway construction

Land lost due to complacency!