The government is reportedly looking at an alternative to the stalled Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex) project, which was supposedly axed by the Selangor state government earlier this year. The project has seen much resistance from residents along the proposed path, primarily those from Petaling Jaya.
One option being considered is an underground highway, Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusuf said, but this would depend on response and takeup. He added that the construction of an underground highway was more expensive than an elevated highway, The Star reports.
“We are open to alternatives to build the Kidex. Initial studies have shown that it is expensive and not many are willing to do it. If there are private investors who are willing to do it and it is viable to the public, we will consider (underground option),” Fadillah told reporters.
He stated though that Kidex was necessary to connect PJ, because there were insufficient roads in the area at present. Despite the planned focus on public transportation for the city, Fadillah didn’t think the public transport system will be able to meet the requirements of PJ residents if it was not served by a good network of roads.
“We understand from the Selangor government that Kidex is no more because they want to focus on public transportation. But our view is that even if you need to have public transportation, you will need the roads to serve (buses),” he said.
The planned 14.9 km-long Kidex elevated highway project is supposed to connect the NKVE from the Damansara toll plaza to Bandar Kinrara. It includes seven interchanges and will pass through Petaling Jaya and Puchong, before linking up to the Bukit Jalil Highway. The aim of the route is to provide motorists an alternative to the heavily-utilised Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong (LDP).
The report states that based on the original plan, Kidex was expected to cost an estimated RM2.42 billion for the entire stretch, which would run along 3,784 lots of land and properties, with an estimated 10% of these needing to be acquired for the purpose of the highway’s construction.
An underground highway requires minimum land acquisition, the report adds, but there is still significant cost. The cost per kilometre for Kidex’s elevated structure amounts to about RM162.42 million per km.
Comparatively, the Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel (SMART) cost RM1.89 billion to build, back in 2007. At 9.7 km-long, it worked out to around RM194.9 million per km, but the cost had also incorporated the advanced engineering systems utilised in the tunnel to handle flood waters.
In related news, the Works Ministry said the Selangor state government has given the green light for the construction of the Damansara-Shah Alam Elevated Expressway (DASH) and the Sungai Besi-Ulu Kelang Elevated Expressway (SUKE).
Both are three-lane, dual carriageway projects – the 20.1 km-long DASH will run from the Puncak Perdana U10 Shah Alam intersection to the Penchala interchange at Mutiara Damansara, while the SUKE will be a 31.8 km-long link between Sri Petaling and Ulu Kelang.
Yes, good news for the recent pettition FOR DASH movement! Yup, wt the bad traffic resident plying alog those route are facing daily, DASH approval will be a great.
Please do reconsider stopping before it reaches Damansara Perdana as the residential areas it crosses and there is really no space between building.
It is already congested as it is there. Please do reconsider
#RealignDASH Highway
PM Najib can give the Gov RM2.5bil to fund the construction cost of KIDEX and let it be a toll free.. an opportunity for najib to pujuk rakyat la.. haha..
better he pujuk rakyat on other areas…these highways are for klang valley residents only…klang valley BN sudah bungkus ikat tepi..kuikuikui
RM2.42 billion for kidex, is still under enough budget. He have RM2.6 billion, and if he keep it in USD or SGD, he have more than RM2.6 billion now, more than enough to fund for under ground in PJ.
Yay for Shah Alam folks, Nay for Mutiara D’sara folks..
Dash is only approved up to the NKVE.
Kidex – objected by PR with protest = crony & korup
DASH & SUKE – agreed by PR even though with protest = ok. good for rakyat. dihalalkan.
Topkek
building more highways are not the answer to the terrible traffic jams in Klang Valley.
when I started working in KL some 20 years ago, it only had Federal Highway. and Kesas (just completed, to ease congestion at Federal highway).
since then, many new highways were created to ease the motorists. like LDP. or Elite/NKVE. or sprint. or Duke. Akleh. LKSA. SKVE. kajang silk. but the jams are still there.
what we all had forgotten is that, Wilayah Persekutuan KL registered easily 200,000 new vehicles every year. KL can complete a plate series in about 1 year (during normal economy situation) but during the peak like in 99-2000 or 2008-09 KL can do like 2 series in a year. between 99-00, KL plate was series WG_ (end), entering WH_ and then WJ_.
in 08-09 it was WR_, WS_, WT_ series. that is something like 500,000 new vehicles in less than 2 years (lorries, vans, bikes, cars).
building new highways are not the answer. even community dont bother much about paying tolls. and still stuck in jams.
what we will need is control. look at london and singapore.
create boundary zones and peak hours. empty the road unless you are willing to pay the penalty.
and when the roads have less cars (no jams whatsoever), improve public transport.
taxi drivers will drive in jam. believe me.
look at new york – there are yellow cabs everywhere. taxi drivers are happy to work because there are no jams. we need to educate our ppl to sacrifice convenience and use public transport.
back to highway concessionaire – i urge all companies not to charge toll when there is a traffic built up for more than 500 metres. this shouuld be part of your social responsibilities and contribution. lets say between 7.45am-8.10am federal highway is having bumper-to-bumper crawl then you should stop collecting tolls and raise up all bars. this is what i call fair.
Don’t u read previous article about charging motorist entering KL n less parking space..most don’t like it
There’s no smooth reliable public transport to starts with, how to like it?
Compare to developed major cities, buses interval are predictable.
While in KL, buses are based on mood of the driver, or whatever reason, waiting time varies from 15min to 2hours. With heavy rain, some train route will be stucked as well.
The public wouldn’t mind taking trains if there are enough stations and car parks at the stations. Currently stations are far from some of the areas that the public wants to go and inadequate car parks to park and ride.
Thats bcoz ppl like Same Loor have a dozen toyotas and 4 lexus. He can’t drive them all at the same time tho.
alldisc,
You are certainly a forward looking person with lots of experience and ambition. However, you have to know that most Malaysian has 3rd class mentality. They want to live in their convenience without wanting to scarify. They complain that the price of car is high because they want to buy more car, so how do you expect us to be like Singapore which control the number of vehicle by having high car price.
They also complain at toll and charges the government impose on them. So how do you think the government can implement congestion charges.
You may be ambitious and forward looking. But facing with most Malaysian mentality, you can dream that day will come.
duke,suke,dash..what a weird name when it calls in shortform..anyway..i dont care as long as i could reduce the bad traffic everyday to office..
Its not about the amount of roads that are built, its the volume of traffic that keeps increasing in a certain area, normally caused by high density buildings such as condos and high rise offices.
If such high density projects are placed in areas where the infrastructures(roads) meet the traffic requirements, and also the dispersement of traffic is efficient, then it would be create a less pressured driving experience. People would be more than willing to drive a longer distance as long as the traffic flow is smooth.
What we have now is highway would ends up in a traffic lighted area. Rate of traffic entering the traffic light area is higher than exiting it. Hence a traffic buildup is assured and a jam occurs onto the highway which causes a bottleneck and everyone is stuck.
Try taking a longer route with less jam(if possible) and see what it does to your stress level. Do it for a week.
Highways and more roads are not the answer. Dispersement of the population is a better alternative – cheaper to do, and cause less social problems for all.
Talk about selfishness and waste of resources. Most shah alam fellas are just annoyed with a 2km localised crawl to enter a HIGHWAY and harping on the distance to work. And now using these skewed reasons to justify the need for another highway… Way to go shah alam. You might as well demand for one dedicated highway per household.
Seems like the state govt say one thing and do another. I got no problem with DASH if it doesn’t pass through a high dense condo area. What happened to it ending on NKVE?
Go and check who own penchala link and dash. Its as simple as that.
I think this news is skewed by certain parties with an interest in highways, obviously. Federal govt & state govt seems to be singing a different tune with regards to these highways. State has only proposed to include the DASH highway up to NKVE and even then this is yet to be finalised pending MBPJ’s finalization of the Local City Plan exercise. But obviously this news is not sitting well with the project proponent and the Shah Alam folks who have been instigated to support the project regardless if it’s built in someone’s backyard or next to someone’s home windows just so long as they can get to work faster and to ikea/ curve? Just do a check who & background of the people behind the group that is supporting DASH and you can piece the puzzle together. Anybody even realised that the neighbourhoods wanting DASH so badly don’t even have & want any public transportation access but is only wanting highways after highways to solve their traffic congestion problems? How long can this be a sustainable solution?
I am surprised some can’t see the amount of land that has been developed with the building of more road network. Can’t just look at the increase of vehicles because the population is also increased. I doubt Malaysians are gonna stop making babies anytime soon.