Meeting MPSJ didn't get us anywhere, but there is a silver lining.

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To cut a long story short, we are back to square one again after four months of back and forth discusssion with Prasarana.

Meeting with MPSJ and Prasarana

Even though the meeting was held during a work day, many BK 3 folks felt necessary to show up and support our cause for the good of BK 3 community. Fifty-five BK 3 residents showed up at the meeting last Wednesday morning. The turn out was just unbelievable.

BK 3 residents signing in.

BK 3 residents at the briefing

Besides that, the briefing by Prasarana in MPSJ office was a let down. They didn't bring anything new to the table. Everything was just the same like when it was started.

Encik Yunos Khashid, Pengarah, Bahagian Perancangan Bandar MPSJ

Briefing from Prasarana

To summarize the whole meeting:

1) No, the track can not be relocated away from the "green lung"

2) No, station no. 5 remains where it is.

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This is the message Prasarana was telling us after four months of their study, with input from their consultants. 

In other words nothing can be done.

It is our feeling the whole meeting was put together in a very rush manner with not enough facts to back up their points. Things just weren't explained to us in a satisfactory manner.

When BK 3 residents asked who decided station no. 5 has to be in BK 3, no one could give us an answer.

No explanation was given on the traffic study as well. Prasarana just mention this is a drop and ride station, without any parking area provided. 

There was no traffic studies whatsoever on what impact the station will bring to the surrounding area.

Prasarana even presented us an artist's impression of how the station and track will look like at our green lung area (see below). It is not pretty.

Artist's impression of station no. 5 and track at green lung

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While our government often spend millions and millions of ringgit in building white elephant projects, they just couldn't allocate more fund to restudy, relocate and rebuild the ramp to BK 5 area so that the LRT track can be at the centre of highway? 

With station no. 4 just a stone's throw away, why can't station no. 5 be relocated or canceled all together?

In the long run, that is the best solution with the least impact to the lives of the residents around our area.

So where is the silver lining?

With all the bureacracy our system has, we believe this is just one of the stages we have to go through. Quite simply put, neither Prasarana nor MPSJ are in a position to make the decision on our demands.

Therefore, MPSJ suggested we present a memorandum about LRT station no. 5 and track at green lung issue for  them to be discussed at the next Majlis Tindakan Ekonomi Selangor (MTES) meeting.

In other words, the Selangor government will be making the final decision. We are moving this thing higher up. That is the silver lining.

It is getting closer and closer to the end. We have waited for four months and will certainly continue to fight for the future of BK 3 community.  

Your support has become more crucial than ever. We are still collecting as many signatures as we can. Please continue to provide us as much support as you can.

Be ready for the next meeting with the Selangor government. We will need more residents to be there to make our case stronger.

Help spread the news. It is not over yet but getting tougher.

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Show your support at MPSJ July 20th Wednesday 8:30 am

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After  waiting for four months, the time has come.

MPSJ and Prasarana have agreed to meet the residents of BK 3 to discuss about station no. 5 and LRT track on the green lung issue.

                    Date: 20th July, 2011 Wednesday

                    Time: 8:30am

                    Venue: Laman Kenaga, Aras 1, Majlis Perbandaran Subang Jaya

If you need to take a half day leave, please do. If you don't have transport and want to be there, contact us. If you can not make it, ask your neighbour or relative to attend. Your support is the utmost important thing now.

We want all of you there. Do your part. It is now or never!

THIS IS PROBABLY THE ONLY CHANCE YOU GET TO SHOW THEM YOU MEAN BUSINESS!

Let's show them our solidarity and how much we care about our community.

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Time to fight.

It has been three months since we talked to SPNB, and we are getting nothing out of them.

The promise of coming up with a satisfactory answer regarding the realignment of LRT tracks and relocation of station no. 5 is just an empty promise. While we are able to call and talk to their representatives, we are just not getting a firm answer from them.

Residents being informed of the latest LRT news

We thought the thing can be discussed and settled amicably. Turn out that SPNB is probably playing "Tai Chi" with us, with no intention to seriously looking into our problems.

Just like so many typical Malaysian politicians, SPNB thinks that may be by dragging the whole thing long enough, we will just give up and go away.

So last Saturday we decided to gather the residents to tell them about the whole situation. To our surprise there are many residents who are still in the dark about the whole LRT extension thing.

"Really, the track will be at our green lung area?"

"You mean there is a station here?"

So the time has come for us to really reach out, inform all residents, and get full support from them. Only then we able to put enough pressure for SPNB to really take some action.

BK 3 residents at the briefing

More residents should get involved, more voices should be heard, and more signatures should be collected to show our concern.

We must remember the track and station will be here forever, bringing with them all the social ills, parking woes, security issues, and cutting down the trees at our green area. SPNB will just build it, wash their hands and go away while we have to face this for the rest of our lives.

We want to meet the residents again. This time ALL BK residents should be involved. Everyone should inform their neighbours, friends and relatives to show their support before it is too late.

It is time to make some noise.

Let's keep BK 3 the way it is, quiet and peaceful.

The long wait

Many residents in BK 3 are losing their patience with SPNB (Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad), especially when they saw some LRT track preliminary work had started in our area.

A big pile of sand at green lung area, and some digging work

There were drilling frames for soil investigation work at our area for quite some time now. At certain areas the workers had even started to do some digging work to lay the underground cables.

Cable laying work

This morning there was a land surveyor doing some surveying at the green lung area. Obviously he was doing some surveying work for the new LRT extension.

Land surveyor doing work and soil investigation work

The residents had actually met and talked to SPNB three times since the LRT track and station no. 5 issues arose.

Just a few days ago SPNB had told us their consultants are finalizing their alternative proposals with a few options regarding realignment of LRT track and possible relocation of station no. 5.

SPNB had given us assurance no actual construction work will begin until our issues are settled.

We were also told SPNB will submit their proposals to MPSJ some time next week. After which a meeting will be held between BK 3 residents, SPNB and MPSJ to discuss the issues. Eventually MPSJ will have the final say on all the proposals.

There is still a long way to go...

Work on LRT started in BK 3?

Some of the residents may be wondering when they see workers starting to do some work at BK 3 area. Has work on LRT started?

Soil testing in front of "Tak Nak LRT station 5" poster

The workers are actually doing some soil investigation to estimate the depth of piles required for LRT construction work. It is some kind of preliminary work to any type of construction.

So it a way, yes, the construction work has started for the new LRT extension.

Many residents may also notice some tents set up by the workers. The workers are actually "camping" at our area while doing their work.

Temporary "homes" set up by workers at the playground

At the "camp site" the Bangladeshi workers cook and eat their meals, take bath, wash and hang their clothes between the trees to dry. I don't know how people can live in such a condition, but this is how some of the foreign workers are treated in our country, while trying to make our lives better.

Camp site?

The talk between SPNB (Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad) and the residents is still on. While the residents are still waiting for an answer from them regarding our concern, one has to wonder if they have quietly gone ahead and stick to their original plan.

Let's hope that is not the case.

Just say "NO"

Everyone wants the convenience of a LRT station close to their area. I imagine the residents in BK 3 feel the same way. However, the convenience of having a LRT station here comes with a price.

When the LRT track runs through BK 3, it will encroach into our green lung area, and station no. 5 will be right at our door steps. I have no idea why the planner or designer decided to do it that way. Obviously not much thought was put into considering the effect of all these to the residents around that area.

If the plan materialized, the negative impacts will be there. All the social ills, security problems, traffic congestion, parking woes and noise pollutions that are common to commercial area will eventually be part of our lives here in BK 3.

In fact, BK 3 will be turned into a public area. It will definitely become more like a commercial area than a residential area. 

Posters put up by residents

Some residents have already started an awareness campaign to let everyone understand the problem. We all know that with the support of the residents, something can still be done.

We are not really against the LRT line extension. It is just not right to put so little thought into planning a project of such magnitude, that affects people's life in a negative way. Better options are clearly available.

The LRT track should be realigned away from our green lung area, to the middle of Bukit Jalil highway. The trees at green lung area actually act as a buffer zone that cut off the noise and dust pollution from Bukit Jalil highway. They should be preserved.

We also don't need station no. 5 in our area. If the residents need to use the LRT, station no. 4 in BK 2 is just walking distance away. There is really no reason to have two stations so close to each other right at our area. It is a waste of tax payers' money.

Realignment of tracks and relocation of station no. 5

If station no. 5 is to be constructed, we think it will be better if it is relocated further down the highway towards IOI direction. That way the station can cater to more passengers from housings like Puchong Jaya, Taman Tenaga and so on, without directly affecting any of the residential areas.

The concern was also recently raised up and reported in several news papers like The Star and Sin Chew daily.

Some residents have in fact met and carried out a dialogue with Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad (SPNB) regarding our concern. SPNB had also visited our area to understand our problem.

They have promised to restudy the whole thing and give an answer to the residents in a few weeks time. So far however there is still no reply from them.

We certainly hope that SPNB can give us a satisfactory answer. Only then we can ensure BK 3 remain the way it is, a quiet and peaceful neighbourhood. 

At this moment we can only wait with our fingers crossed, praying for the best.