Last Saturday morning (29th, March 2014) representatives from KIDEX together with MPSJ, and Kinrara assemblyman Ng Sze Han were present at Bandar Kinrara BK2 community hall to brief the residents about the upcoming project KIDEX, or Kinrara-Damansara Expressway.
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| Residents attending the briefing at BK2 hall |
To cut a long story short, these are what the residents in Bandar Kinrara were briefed during the meeting.
1. The highway will be 14.9km in length starting from NKVE, and ends at Bukit Jalil Highway next to Bandar Kinrara Giant supermarket. There will be two toll plazas along the highway with toll rate to be determined later.
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| KIDEX highway layout |
2. The whole length of the highway will be completely elevated with a single pier "T" shape concrete structure. Height of the structures varies from 8m to 16m. In other words, KIDEX highway will be built on top of existing roads. None of the existing roads will be taken away and made into tolled roads like LDP highway.
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| Section view of the elevated highway |
3. Some of the private properties will be acquired by KIDEX to accommodate the construction of the highway. However, it will only be about 10% of what was originally reported, as KIDEX will only acquire land under section 8 act, which covers a lot less land than initially fear by residents staying adjacent to the proposed highway. Most of the acquired land will be near the interchange as the ramps that need more space will encroach further into the private properties.
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| Land acquired based on section 8 act, not section 4 |
4. Closer to our area, KIDEX will cross KESAS highway, runs on top of Jalan TK 2/7, cut across army camp to Jalan Kinrara 1, and ends at Jalan Kinrara 6 near Giant supermarket (based on the map provided in the briefing).
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| Approximate route of KIDEX highway in Bandar Kinrara |
In the future, there is also another SKIP (Serdang-Kinrara-Putrajaya) highway in the pipeline that is supposed to join to KIDEX highway at Jalan Kinrara 6, as reported here way back in year 2011.
The briefing ends with a Q and A session. Some of the concerns that residents have:
Q: Is my property going to be acquired?
A: It is not finalized yet at this moment
Q: Will the noise level be too much?
A: There will be sound barrier wall to reduce the noise to acceptable level
Q: Any EIA or traffic study reports available for public viewing?
A: No. The documents are considered "classified". It can only be released to public with government approval.
Q: Can the highway be toll free?
A: This is not up the KIDEX representative to decide, who are just a concessionaire taking on the project. The concessionaire needs to collect toll to recuperate their investment.
There were also some questions raised that were not answered immediately.
Kinrara assemblyman Ng Sze Han raised the question why there is no diamond interchange at Bukit Jalil Highway and KESAS highway.
For example, from KIDEX motorists can exit to Bukit Jalil towards Kuala Lumpur direction and not Sunway direction. Similarly, motorists coming from Kuala Lumpur on Bukit Jalil Highway will not be able to get on KIDEX.
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| The questionable Bukit Jalil highway interchange |
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| Artist's aerial view impression of Bukit Jalil highway interchange |
Ng Sze Han was also concerned why no EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) and traffic study reports were made available for the public. There should be transparency to allow the public to fully understand the impact KIDEX highway will bring to the affected areas.
Many residents are also worried that instead of easing traffic, KIDEX will be like LDP, bringing more traffic jam to our area.
One resident even suggested KIDEX should end at KESAS, which is a proper highway that might be able to handle the additional traffic coming to our area.
Overall the response from residents had been lukewarm at best, uncertain what the highway will bring to the residents of Bandar Kinrara in the future.
So is KIDEX highway a sure thing?
Will it ease traffic as promised?
No one can answer that.
However, one thing is for sure.
Anyone staying in Bandar Kinrara driving to work daily knows how painful it is to deal with the rush hour traffic at Bukit Jalil highway.
It is unlikely KIDEX highway will change that for the better.
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