Thursday May 8, 2008
MP alleges road not upgraded although allocation approved
JALAN Segambut – a main road – was never widened or upgraded over the past 10 years although funds had already been approved for it, claimed Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng.
Lim said the road was known for bad traffic crawls with congestion happening daily from morning till night.
“The traffic congestion along Jalan Segambut was a major issue that I brought up during the election campaign.
“But the congestion seems to be getting worse. Even Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah has asked me to look into this matter,” said Lim, who visited the site recently to highlight the choking traffic there.
Daily chaos: Travelling along Jalan Segambut is a nightmare for those who use the two-lane road, where traffic congestion is a daily affair from morning to night. The road is currently a two-lane carriageway that accommodates two-way traffic.
Lim said he had gone to the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) two weeks ago to check on the issue, and a director there revealed that an allocation of RM10mil had been approved about 10 years ago to acquire the land and upgrade the road to six lanes.
The land has to be acquired as the road-widening works will require homes in the surrounding area to be demolished and the residents, relocated.
Lim claimed, however, the director could not explain why the road had not been upgraded.
“When I asked the director if the DBKL could now upgrade the road since the funds had been approved, he said it was not possible because the cost has in-creased more than tenfold, to over RM100mil!
I was told that the land acquisition alone would require RM100mil...LIM LIP ENG “I was told that the land acquisition alone would require RM100mil, while the RM10mil could probably only be used to construct lampposts now!” said Lim.
He said the road was a main access route for the many housing areas in Segambut and even road users from Kepong plied it.
He added that it was unfair to have kept residents in the dark about this project for so many years, and lamented that the previous administration had not kept tabs on the status of the project to ensure that the construction went through.
“I think residents have had enough; nothing has been done to ease their situation even though the project has long been ap-proved. I've in fact submitted this question to Parliament and we are awaiting an answer on this,” he said.
Source:
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