Petaling Jaya: The proposed closure of the 800-meter Jalan Tanjong by a developer raised objections from over 13,000 residents from 20 areas including Bandar Aman Suria, Damansara, Bandar Utama and Kampong Kayu Ara, and a memorandum concerning the road closure was handed over to MBPJ on Tuesday.

Encik Mohamed Shukri, Action Group Chairman said that the road is of importance to residents of the area and its vicinity. With no alternative roads, it is expected that over 200,000 residents will be affected with the closure of Jalan Aman Suria and traffic jams will be aggravated.

He said that initially the developer wanted to claim back the land and proposed a road closure. However, the residents had been using that road for the past 12 years. Recently, a notice of road closure beginning 20 November was erected by the developer.

“As Jalan Tanjong is the main access for the residents, the road closure would force motorists to turn into Bandar Aman Suria, and from there, to turn into Bandar Utama and Kampong Kayu Ara.”

He said, “The Bandar Utama City Corporation (BUCC) wrote to the developer of Bandar Aman Suria several months ago, informing the latter on the closure of Jalan Tanjong. The residents realized that they had met twice with the authority in September. ”

He said that the residents of Bandar Utama and Aman Suria who attended the meeting disagreed to the proposed road closure. But, after the meeting, the authority said that the residents had agreed to the closure. They had twisted the fact against the wishes of the residents.

“We are seriously against the road closure, and we propose to the authority to maintain the status quo of the road so as to ease traffic of the area,” he said.

Mohamed Shukri said, “The residents’ main concern is, if the developer were to close the road without prior notice, just like the closure of overhead bridge at the south in 2006, the consequences would be hard to foresee.”

“We hope that the MBPJ would think of the interests of the economy and the public, and we appeal to the developer to exercise its corporate responsibility by handing over the road to the government, so to settle the problem once and for all.”

Over 100 resident representatives, developers, Mr Chong Weng Tuck, Committee member of Action Group Against Closure of Jalan Tanjung, Mr Ong Siew Sang, President of PIBG SRJK (C ) Damansara, Mr Tee An Ting, member of the Management Board of SRJK(C) Damansara, Dato Fong Chun Sang and Ms Leong Kuan Fong, PIBG Committee of SRJK(C) were present at the MPPJ office during the handing over of the memorandum. Encik Puasa received the memorandum on behalf of MBPJ mayor, Datuk Roslan.

MBPJ to come up with win-win situation

Encik Puasa said MBPJ would study the case and hopefully come up with a win-win solution. Meanwhile, MBPJ would make sure Jalan Tanjong would not be closed before 20 November. The authority would assign personnel to stand guard so as to ease the worries of the residents.

He said the Engineering Department of MPPJ had inspected the area and felt that the road should remain its status quo, but MBPJ cannot implement this immediately. “We will have to discuss whether to keep the status quo of the road or to turn that road into one-way road during our Wednesday meeting.”

He said the land owner has the right to erect notice on its land but the authority has the right to dismantle the notice board without prior approval.

“We shall gather suggestions from the residents and hand it over to the Selangor state government for further actions,” he said.

The reporter was unable to contact the developer for comment.

Ong Siew Sang: Students would be late for class by detour

Mr Ong Siew Sang, the president of PIBG SRJK(C) Damansara said, the 800-meter Jalan Tanjong is the main access to SRKJ (C) Damansara, and with the closure, parents had to detour when sending students to school, which will result in the students being late for class.

“Both Jalan Tanjong and Jalan Aman Suria already have big traffic volumes. If all cars are to head towards Jalan Aman Suria, the traffic jam would be worse, and would result in students being late for class and the working-class late for work.”

“We have 2,500 students in SRJK (C) Damansara, which were divided into morning and afternoon sessions. With the road closure, it is hard to imagine what the condition would be.”