Representatives of Prasarana yesterday ruled out the possibility of relocating the proposed LRT extension depot from Kampung Sri Aman to Taman Mas Sepang, but recommended a relocation to another village across the river- Kampung Kuala Sungai Baru.
At a mini exco meeting with Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim, exco members and the villagers, the corporation said a relocation to Tmn Mas Sepang will require an additional 2.3km extension that would cost RM600 million to build.
The relocation was however seen as commercially viable by Puchong parliamentarian Gobind Singh Deo since extra costs are ultimately unavoidable.
“Even though they are sticking to Kampung Sri Aman, aren’t they suppose to undertake extra costs also to upgrade the infrastructure, widened roads and give compensation to houses affected?
“So why not just divert it to Tmn Mas Sepang, which is a growing township?”
Gobind
He said a station in the middle of a village is unrealistic because the heritage village would not have the capacity to cope with the vast traffic flowing in after the station completed.
Kampung Sri Aman action committee secretary Rosman Rahmad was disappointed with the open-ended meeting.
“Despite several calls from us, Prasarana always failed to show us the comparison table between (locating it at) Sri Aman and Tmn Mas Sepang.
“Besides it is suspicious to claim a 2.3km extension needs RM600 million, when they once mentioned every kilometre of rail requires only RM100 million.”
Rosman said he was surprised to know 40 lots of land will be requisitioned for such construction, instead of 30 lots as he was told earlier.
Meanwhile the other areas of concerns were sorted out amicably last night.
Gobind said the acquisition of 20,000 sq ft of land belonging to SJK (T) Castlefield got the go ahead from school management.
“In return, Prasarana promised to help compensate by erecting a sound barrier, providing air-conditioning for classrooms and constructing the line significantly higher than the school,”
Apart from this, the Puchong Prima station which affects 16 MPSJ hawkers will also have the latter’s stalls relocated in close proximity to the station once it is completed.
Prasarana is now gearing up to finalise its station plan. They are expected to kick start the construction work by year end after much delay.
The Star-LRT Ampang line will see 12 more stations starting at Sri Petaling station and ending at Putra Heights, covering major areas in Puchong. The Kelana Jaya extension, aiming to ease congestion in Subang Jaya, will have 13 new stations also terminating at Putra Heights.
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