By Alang Bendahara
SHAH ALAM, March 17 — New highway and major infrastructure projects in Selangor are now subject to new regulations recently passed by the state government.
State executive councillor for infrastructure Izham Hashim said the amendments to the existing planning requirements were approved in the Selangor Economic Action Council (MTES) meeting and the State Executive Council Meeting (MMKN) on February 9.
“The Selangor state government through PLANMalaysia@Selangor (JPBD Selangor) has come out with a new Flowchart for the Planning Process for Highway and Major Infrastructure Development in the state,” he told the Selangor State Assembly sitting here today.
Izham said one of the new requirements is the need for all proposed projects to be presented to the MTES three times.
“The first is to inform MTES of the project after the company gets the official letter from the Public Works Department (PWD), followed by Federal Cabinet approval where the state government will ask for the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Social Impact Assessment (SIA) and Traffic Impact Assessment (TIA) reports to be done.
“Thirdly, after the concession agreement has been signed by the Federal government, the developers must inform MTES of the alignment changes and get approval for acquirement issues,” he said.
Izham added that under the amendments to the process, Selangor has also moved the requirement to conduct EIA, SIA and TIA reports to the early stages instead of at a later date.
“Previously the SIA, EIA and TIA process took place towards the end. Now we have brought it forward so we can review all public objections, especially when it comes to the SIA report.
“By moving it up we can reject it early should it not follow state requirements. Similarly, if there are doubts on the integrity of the SIA report we can appoint a third party, which is crucial as this is the stage when many public complaints are usually made,” he said.
Izham was providing an additional response to the query by Bukit Gasing state assemblyman Rajiv Rishyakaran.
Rajiv wanted to know the latest status of the proposed construction of the Petaling Jaya Dispersal Link (PJD Link) Highway, and if the state government plans to or has discussed acquiring shares in the company.
The councillor said the Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) has stated the Federal government is in the final stages of negotiation, in preparation of the concession agreement.
“The Public-Private Partnership Unit (UKAS) in the Prime Minister’s Department informed us the Cabinet Ministers’ Memorandum (MJM) on the PJD Link project was presented to the Cabinet on November 12, 2021, for its consideration and conditional approval.
“Among the approval requirements is that PJD Link (M) Sdn Bhd (PJDLSB) must meet all the conditions set by the Selangor state government under the pre-conditions of the Concession Agreement.
“Even after the concession agreement has been signed, the concession company must meet the preconditions set out in the agreement within 12 months, with an additional option for three months before the concession agreement takes full effect,”
“For now, the state government has not yet discussed with the Federal government to acquire a stake in this highway operator,” he said.
Izham also invited Rajiv and other state assemblymen whose constituencies are located within the highway areas to join the next state meeting on the PJD Link.
