Be sincere in asking for feedback on highways Alvin Chin | 4:43PM Dec 22, 2014 We refer to Bukit Gasing assemblyperson R Rajiv’s remark on Dec 17 and that of Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali on Dec 18, 2014. The word ‘tinjaun’ has a few meanings in English such as observe, view, survey or watch. Azmin, in referring to the recently released Laporan Tinjauan Rancangan Pelan Struktur Selangor, has been reassuring the highway critics that the latest report is merely a ‘laporan tinjaun’; it is not a draft yet, let alone approval. In other words, he is downplaying the significance of this report and exercise, but the highway critics were already firing salvo after salvo. But why are many highway critics, eg those against the Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex) and Damansara-Shah Alam Elevated Expressway (Dash) riled by this report in the first place when only one page of the laporan tinjaun features information about the five highways? My take would be that government exercises are usually extensive and documents produced are rarely just for show; they are there as pre-requisites for legal reasons in the timeline of their intended highways plan. While YB Rajiv was right to point out that the highways were there because the Malaysian Highway Board (LLM) had proposed them, I reckon the highways were there NOT only because LLM had made the proposals. The state director in accepting LLM’s proposal(s) would need to specifically fulfil the requirements under Section 7 of the Town and Country Planning 1976 to enable the laporan tinjaun to be legally binding and fit to be presented to the Selangor Economic Action Council (MTES) for approval and thereafter publicity to the general public. Nowhere in the Section 7 of the Act says that development plans can be inserted just because one party proposed. So what else are required for proposals to be included? These proposals would need to go through rigorous surveys and reviews that covers very importantly among others; the technical aspects; possibly the traffic impact assessment and environmental impact assessment, to name a few. Based on the preparation process timeline of this structure plan, this would be the technical report required. Adding salt to the wound, the LLM director-general lr Ismail Md Salleh replied on Dec 19, 2014 to a Twitter question regarding the exclusion of the East Klang Valley Expressway (EKVE) in the laporan tinjauan by saying the EKVE has been gazetted under the Selangor Structure Plan 2020 and surprisingly; is in the actual draft of the Rancangan Pelan Struktur Selangor 2035. This is extremely odd given that the laporan tinjauan has just been released for public feedback yet LLM already knows the content of the draft? Given the considerations above, the highway critics could not be faulted for their concerns and criticism of the laporan tinjauan or even of the state government. If the state government is really sincere in engaging the public for feedback, it takes more than just publishing a report and ask the public to “bantah” if they don’t want it. Downplaying its significance based solely on the title of report does not help either. They should also realise in the eyes of the rakyat, what they have done so far were just basically pointing towards the state government paving the way for these highways to be built; against all odds. m.malaysiakini/letters/284229.html
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 13:11:51 +0000
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