No station no. 5 in BK3 ?

Yes! There is no more station no. 5 in BK 3.

In a "teh tarik" session with Mr. Gobind Singh this morning in BK3, he confirmed that there will not be a station no. 5 in BK3.

However, only half of the issues we proposed are settled. There is still no conclusion yet on the realignment of LRT away from the green lung area.

We have suggested a few proposals and the discussion is still on as to the best alternative to get it done. Right now the track will still be as per the original design, running along on the green lung area. Mr. Gobind Singh has assured us they will look into all angles, discuss and come up with the best possible solutions.

Meanwhile, we can at least know that BK 3 will remain the way it is, a quiet and peaceful community.
 

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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LRT extension briefing, Sunday July 17th 10:30am

By now I think most residents must have received the flyer about LRT extension briefing. We urge all the BK 3 residents to attend to find out what they will be facing in the future.

                                            Time: 10:30 am

                                            Date: 17th July 2011

                                            Day: Sunday

                                            Venue: Merak Apartment hall, Jalan BK 3/1

Location map

The presence of all BK 3 residents are most welcome. See all of you there.

Flyer distributed

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.

It is the little things that count.

BK 3 is a considerable low density residential area with simple amenities. Life is peaceful and quiet around here.

We are blessed to have a large playground with open green area that has a football field and a basketball court. For a small housing like ours, I must say our green area size is the envy of many others.

Large green area and playground

In the morning we can see people jogging and walking at the track around the park, or groups doing their exercises.

There are even more people in the evening, either playing a game of football or basketball. There are also kids playing at the playground and youngsters riding bicycles at the track. It is full of life.

Football field

BK 3 also connects easily to other areas. From Bukit Jalil highway we can get to KL, Sunway, IOI, Kesas highway and Shah Alam. The other direction in housing roads we can get to Jalan Puchong , Old Klang road and then PJ easily.

Unfortunately, no housing is perfect. Ours have some shortcomings as well.

There are only two entry-and-exit points for BK 3. One to Bukit Jalil highway and the other via Jalan Kinrara 4 to Jalan Puchong. Although we can get to other places easily, we must use either of this points.

BK 3 with two entry-and-exit points

That becomes a problem during morning rush hours, when parents are sending their kids to school, and residents going off to work. Two entry-and-exit points are just not enough for our housing.

In addition, with the newly open Kesas highway access road at Kinrara interchage to Old Klang Road, the outside traffic going through BK 3 and Jalan Kinrara 4 leading up to that access has also increased tremendously, making getting out of BK 3 more unbearable at times.

Traffic in the morning

On top of that roadside parking is also a big concern for our residents. With mostly landed properties, BK 3 does however has a few apartment blocks. We all know very well no apartment will ever have enough parking spaces for their residents. The apartment residents have no choice but to park their cars outside of their compound.

Road side parking

Jalan BK 3/7 facing Kasturi apartment in particular has this big parking problem. Being a very narrow street, with cars parking at both sides of the road, it can only allow one car to pass at anytime. This makes driving on that road a test of patience for most of the drivers.

Two way street blocked by parked cars

We must bear in mind that the future LRT station no. 5 is not only catered to the residents of BK 3. Anyone from nearby housings like Puchong Jaya, Taman Kinrara and Taman Bukit Kuchai for example will want to use the station as well.   

The only way they can reach the station is driving into BK 3. 
 

Morning traffic

While some of outsiders will pass by and drop off or pick up their family members, there are others who will just take advantage of the FREE parking at our road side.

Now imagine for a second our roads all jammed up with the additional traffic, and our roadside full of outsiders' cars. This is not how a residential housing should look like.

Besides traffic and parking, there is also a concern of noise pollution created by the new LRT trains.

It is not as quiet as you think.

If the new LRT tracks and station no. 5 are at our green lung area, residents who stay a few rows away can probably still hear the squeaking sound when the train handles the curves, breaking or starting off from a station.

SPNB will want you to believe the modern LRT is very quiet, but reality tells us otherwise.

Don't forget LRT runs from early morning until late hours, weekdays  and also on weekends.  So there will always be traffic coming in and out, cars parked in front of our houses, and squeaking sound most times of the day, everyday of the week.

If that is the case, all the little things we always enjoy and take granted for in BK 3 area, will be gone forever.

How will BK 3 look like in the future?

It is hard for anyone of us to picture in our mind what a LRT station will look like in our area, with the trees gone replaced by LRT tracks and station.

With my visit to existing stations and the plans of new station that I manage to obtain. I pretty much have an idea how the whole thing will look like.

From SPNB's website, we can see the artist's illustration of the station. It is a very modern tube-like station. The station is 94 metres long and 27 metres wide.

New Ampang line LRT station

The illustration is just a standard station. Each station in fact will be slightly different because of  height, support system, and so on.

We have also obtained a copy of the construction drawing for station no. 5.

From the side view, it is really surprising when I see that the distance between road level to station platform is around 19 metres, and another 11 metres to the roof top, for the total height of 30 metres.

What do all these numbers mean? Well, for those who are not that familiar with numbers, one storey of a highrise building is around 3 metres (10 feet). In other words, station no. 5 from road level to roof top is a whopping 10 STOREY HIGH!

Side view of station no. 5 in BK 3

Take a look at another view cutting across the station below. This is the view looking towards Bandar Sunway.

We can really see clearly how half of the station sits on top of our green lung area, and the other half on Bukit Jalil highway. It also has a walkway for passengers to cross the highway to the industrial area on the other side.

Now, notice how close our residents' houses are to the station? It is just across a narrow road. Also take a good look at the size comparison, the station is GIGANTIC compared to the single storey house.

Section view of station no. 5 in BK 3

Take a minute or two to process all these information in your mind.

Seriously, would anyone want a 10 storey high structure in front of their houses?

If I further marked the station and tracks on the photos I have taken earlier, we can really feel the presence of the station. It is not pretty.

Station no. 5 right opposite residential houses

Location of station no. 5 in BK 3 in green lung area

Unless something is done, this is what we will be facing in 2012. No more green trees, but concrete jungles instead.

No worries, you said...

With the impending construction of LRT station no. 5 in BK 3 very soon, what is going to happen to our neighborhood in the future?

The residents must understand once the structure is built, it will be permanent. There will be no going back telling SPNB we don't want it anymore, it will be there forever.

Let's start by looking at some of the issues that may arise, starting with security.

No one can deny that there is a crime problem in our area. There were never ending break-ins after break-ins. Every time you talk to someone from our area you hear new stories. Many cases even happened during day time, with residents inside their houses.

 

My own house was broken into a couple of years ago. A brand new laptop that just arrived a few days before was taken, together with some other valuables. 

Luckily none of us was at home during that time. So we came away with some losses but no one got hurt.

Others were not so lucky. Recent news reported an old man was set on fire and burnt to death by burglars in Perak. Another piece of news reported a housewife was gang raped by eight intruders in Johor. 

These are just a few of the daily occurrences we find reported in the newspaper. In actual fact there are many more. Although some of these crimes happened not in our area, it can actually happen here.

Just the other day one of my neighbors went out briefly to get "nasi lemak" early in the morning. When she came back she saw a motorbike parked in front of her house.

One moment later an intruder walked out from her house carrying laptops, handphones and some other valuables, hopped on the bike and rode off.

All these happened right before her eyes. She yelled and horned but the intruder was just ignoring her. Believe it or not, all these happened while her husband and kids were still sleeping inside her house.

Another neighbor also told me there was this one time after she parked her car in front of her house, got out, a guy riding a motorbike approached her right away with a "parang". Thank god she was not hurt but her purse and handphone were taken. Her family had since moved away.

There are many similar stories.  

Why do you think there are suddenly so many residents having dogs in their houses? Yes, there are many dog lovers out there, but the main reason is to scare off intruders.

BK 3 residents in general has been the target of burglars for the fact that there are just too many entrances to our area where outside intruders can come and go as they please. 

So what has that got to do with the new LRT station?

  

Basically it is very simple, security will get worse once the new station no. 5 is constructed here in BK 3. 

With a LRT station here, BK 3 will become a public area. Anyone can come in and out as they wish. We no longer can question why that motorbike is circling our area all the time, or why a stranger is driving a car through BK 3 so frequently. They will say they are going to the station and there is nothing we can do about it.

We can no longer control who goes in and out of BK 3 area.

We can also forget about hiring security guard service for our area anymore. It is not going to work with so many outsiders in our area. No security guard will be able to do the job.

While all these may sound scary, it is something that we must really think about if we want a LRT station here in BK 3. It is already a proven fact that with a LRT station so close to the residential area, crime rate increases.

Still no worries?

Bangsar LRT station

To satisfy my own curiosity, I want to see first hand what a LRT station looks like. Of course I have seen a LRT station before, but this time I will pay more attention to the details.

I am interested in particular one that is quite similar to the future station no. 5 in BK 3, elevated over a multi-lane highway.

And I found one in Bangsar.

Bangsar LRT station sits on top of Jalan Bangsar. Not exactly a highway but also has a few lanes of traffic running both directions.

The support system and size of the station is also quite similar to station no. 5 that we are getting in BK 3.

So I went for a drive. As I was approaching Bangsar LRT station, I could see the LRT tracks. It was easily 12 metre or 4 storeys high. If I am not wrong, the track around BK 3 area will be even higher at about 15 to 16 metres in height, or around 5 to 6 storeys high.

Looking at the track, I ask myself does anyone want this as the view in front of their houses instead of some green trees for the rest of their lives? I think everyone will agree with me the answer will be a very resounding NO. No one in their right mind will ever want that.

The next thing I notice was it got very dark underneath the station, almost like a tunnel. In fact I felt like I was driving through a tunnel when passing underneath the station.

There are plenty of taxis idling there waiting to pick up passengers. Not only taxis, passenger cars as well. I didn't stay there for long, as the air quality was not really that great.

I can feel that the ventilation was not good in the tunnel-like structure underneath the station. With all the exhaust from the cars and taxis, it gets worse.

I was trying to think where I have seen a station with long lines of cars parking, waiting to pick up people at the drop off zone. I know I have seen it somewhere before. Then I remember it was Kelana Jaya station.

Although that station has a drop-and-ride system at one side, there are always long line of taxis and cars PARKING at the drop off zone waiting to pick people up, causing very bad traffic jams in LDP any time of the day.

Station no. 5 in BK 3 is also a designed drop-and-ride system. I can foresee there will be long lines of taxis and passenger cars parking at the drop off zone already.  

Bukit Jalil highway will eventually become a second LDP. That is not a very pleasing thought.

I walked pass outside of the station area.

Even on a Sunday, I could see cars are parking at the back of other cars. This is not a good sign. I am starting to wonder what will happen to future station no. 5 in BK 3. Will people park their cars indiscriminately in front of our houses?

As I kept on walking farther, I was finally far enough to take in the whole view of the GIGANTIC station. I must admit the station with it's support system was much bigger than I think. In my mind I kept having this image of a tiny little bus-stop-like station that will be the future station no. 5 in BK 3. I was wrong. If station no. 5 is similar to Bangsar station, the station will be HUGE!

On the way home, I just couldn't erase the image of the LRT tracks and station no. 5 a few feet away in front of our houses in BK 3, replacing the trees in the green lung area. Will the quiet neigborhood of BK 3 be the same residential area that it is now?

I drove away with more questions than answers.

Take a walk with me around BK 3

A few weeks ago I decided to take a walk around BK 3.

To my surprise, It is a very small housing area. I guess when we drive around so often and so fast we seldom slow down and really take a close look at our own backyard. But trust me, it is a very small area.

I took a look at the green lung area from the pedestrian bridge that runs across Bukit Jalil highway.

Looking towards KL direction they were beautiful. Matured and fully grown, the trees almost completely covered the view of front row houses. A lot of effort must have gone into keep them that way. I just can't believe all this will be gone, replaced by LRT tracks. This is all so sad.

I turned my head and looked towards Bandar Sunway direction. The new LRT station no. 5 will be there, right at the end of the green lung area. I try very hard to imagine how a station will look like over there. Honestly what came to my mind wasn't pretty.

Continued with my walk, I turned into some of the narrower roads like Jalan BK 3/7, in front of Kasturi apartment. Oh, what a nightmare. Car jam packed parking at both sides of the road anytime of the day . At any one time, the two way street can allow only one car to pass. Someone told me there were often arguments between drivers refusing to give way.

Unfortunately, this is also one of the major roads in BK 3. In my mind I can't help but think, with the new station no. 5 around, will parking problem get even worse?

Then I saw the little blue peg right next to the road that probably marks the boundary or set backs for LRT tracks, and reality hits. The sign that the LRT tracks is going to be here can not be denied. Is this how close it will be to the residents?

LRT track and station at our green lung area

Fast forward to year 2011.

Workers were starting to show up to work at the BK 3 green lung area next to Bukit Jalil highway before Chinese new year. The work on the LRT extension obviously was about to begin.

The residents were still wondering why there was no reply from SPNB. Didn't they asked the public to submit their comment on the proposed LRT line in 2009? We did and no one bothered to talk to us.

So we did a little digging for information. What came up was an even bigger shock.

The LRT track will NOT be at the middle of the Bukit Jalil highway at BK 3, it will run instead at our GREEN LUNG AREA, replacing all our trees.

On top of that, station no. 5 will be right at the end of the green lung area, just ACROSS THE ROAD from some of our residents' houses!

So instead of all the beautiful trees mostly planted by the front row residents facing Bukit Jalil highway, the trees will be all gone very soon and replaced with concrete pillars and tracks.

Just imagine for a moment, the little green lung buffer that the residents have, to shield themselves off the noise and dust pollution from the traffic of Bukit Jalil highway will be gone forever.

Some residents even mentioned they had spent quite a bit of money and effort planted the trees since they moved in, more then 15 YEARS AGO!

Worst still, the residents at the end of that road will be facing a GIGANTIC STATION right across the street from their houses.

Obviously, most of the residents are starting to wonder about the slogan by our PM saying "Rakyat di Utamakan". Are we the "rakyat" really "diutamakan"?

We really wonder.

The Ampang LRT line extension

When the news of new Ampang LRT line extension came out in 2009, Bandar Kinrara BK 3 residents had some mixed feelings.

While some residents were glad that the line is going to pass through our area, others were worried that the whole area will be changed forever.

So naturally some of us were shocked looking at the general layout of the LRT line. There were not one, not two, but three stations right here in Bandar Kinrara.

The layout clearly showed new LRT line running at the middle of  Bukit Jalil highway with station no. 3 in BK1, station no. 4 in BK2 and station no. 5 in BK 3. All the stations and LRT tracks were shown to be at the middle of the highway.

Concerned about all the negative impacts station no. 5 will bring, some BK 3 residents took initiatives, collected signatures and submitted them to the relevant authorities. The residents felt it was not necessary to have a station in BK 3, especially when station no. 4 in BK 2 is just walking distance away.

The question was raised by our residents two years ago in 2009, but no reply was ever given by Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad (SPNB), the government body that handles the LRT extension project.