By Selangor Journal Team
SHAH ALAM, July 31 — Selangor has cancelled the proposed development of the controversial Petaling Jaya Dispersal Link Expressway (PJD Link) project for failing to meet conditions set by the state government.
Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari said the administration was not happy with the plan submitted by the developers after going through the various assessment reports.
“Our principle is that developments in Selangor should balance between sustainability and economic progress, while also ensuring that they do not bring harm to the people,” he said in a statement today.
“In relation to the impact assessment reports, particularly concerning the social aspect, the administration is unsatisfied with the project plan being proposed, as it failed to abide by conditions set by the state government.
“As a result, the Selangor government does not intend to continue with the proposal and has decided to cancel the application to develop PJD Link.”
The construction of the PJD Link was originally given principle approval by the Cabinet on November 12, 2017, before the proposal was submitted to the Selangor Economic Action Council on September 3, 2020.
This was to ensure further studies could be conducted with the involvement of the residents in Petaling Jaya.
Amirudin pointed out that the plan was later tabled in Cabinet on November 12, 2021 for conditional approval so that the proposal meets the conditions of the state government.
Following this, the then Perikatan Nasional federal government inked a concession agreement with the developer on April 5, 2022, on condition that the company conducts its environmental, social and traffic impact assessments.
However, Amirudin said the social impact assessment report, in particular, was later found to have breached state requirements.
Previously, on July 14, the menteri besar had said that the Selangor would only consider approving PJD Link if it is satisfied with the findings of the studies conducted by the concession company, as well as public feedback.
He said the state government would not approve the project if it strikes resemblance to the contentious Kinrara–Damansara Expressway (Kidex), which has since been scrapped in 2015.
The 14.9km proposed PJD Link would have connected the Damansara-NKVE Interchange in the north to Bandar Kinrara in the south, cutting travelling time between Damansara and Kinrara by about 25 per cent.
