WHEN Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim first said the Selangor government had agreed “in principle” to the construction of the controversial Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex), I was not surprised.
When it comes to projects that can benefit the state, especially ones that do not involve money from its own coffers, Khalid has been very consistent.
In the six years that he has been at the helm of Malaysia’s richest state, he has not been one to shy away from making unpopular decisions he believes would benefit the people.
Case in point is his billion ringgit pet project, the restructuring of the state’s water industry, which saw millions of residents facing water shortage for months before stop- gap measures were put in place.
As for Kidex, despite reportedly having commissioned studies to be conducted and instructing relevant authorities to conduct public hearings for those who would be affected by the project, residents believe it is nothing more than lip service as the project looks set to take off despite protests from various quarters.
Looking back, one can understand why Khalid has no qualms in making this decision.
When he was still a chief executive officer at Guthrie Berhad, Guthrie had constructed the Guthrie Corridor Expressway (GCE), a 25km expressway which connects Bukit Jelutong, Shah Alam, to Rawang.
Having the experience of building a highway himself, Khalid more than understands what it entails, both the negative and the positive aspects of it.
GCE’s construction helped cement Bukit Jelutong’s status as an upscale suburb in Shah Alam. Khalid took pride in Bukit Jelutong’s success.
The 8.9 sq m planned community was developed by Guthrie Property Holding Berhad (GPHB), also during his time as CEO.
“That time, many people said I was crazy for selling terrace houses built on a former oil palm plantation for RM300,000 but they were all sold out,” Khalid once said.
Therefore, it was not surprising when the Selangor government did not reject the construction of Kidex outright despite vehement protests from Petaling Jaya residents, whose homes would be affected by its construction, and objection from four DAP state assemblymen.
Kidex, Khalid said, benefits the majority of the people in Selangor and fits in with the state’s development plan.
“It would be unprofessional for us to say no to it just because it comes from the Federal Government.
“Rejecting it would be unkind to the people as it is a solution to help ease traffic issues.”
He said like any other development project, the state government could not please everybody as the project would run through already developed areas, but he promised it would benefit the majority of the people.
He even went on record saying people were happy with the MRT and LRT projects so long as they were not on their doorsteps.
The residents can now only hope he keeps his word that the highway’s final alignment would benefit the majority of the people living in the affected areas.
The state government has the right to decide on the highway’s alignment and if its suggestion to realign the highway makes the project not feasible, the state government can decide not to proceed.
The 14.9km super-elevated highway costing RM2.4 billion will cut through some of the country’s oldest and most established residential and urban areas in Petaling Jaya and parts of Damansara from its starting point in Kinrara in the south to Bandar Utama in the north.
Construction is expected to start next year.
