The long-awaited traffic light project for the Rothman roundabout has finally unveiled. MBPJ today announced that the construction will kick off in July.
The project will turn the current roundabout into crossroads connecting Jalan Universiti, Jalan Harapan, Jalan Semangat and Jalan 19/1 with traffic lights.
“The initial project will cost about RM5.5million due to the difficulty of accommodating the utility cable underneath.” MBPJ Engineering department director Cheremi bin Tarman said in the press conference held after the council’s monthly meeting.
“It is expect to be completed in eight months,” he said.
Heavy congestion is common at the roundabout near Sin Chew Daily where traffic comes to a standstill even during off-peak hours.
“The roundabout is graded E, just 1 class better than the lowest F grade,” he said.
He also disclosed that there will be a second phase project, to build a flyover connecting the place to the Sprint highway.
Besides that, an initiative to tackle traffic issue has been announced by MBPJ to tied up with Prasarana (RapidKL) to provide local bus service.
Councilor Derek John Fernandez said MBPJ has come forward to start discussions with Prasarana in providing efficient community-oriented routes, temporarily tagged as “RapidPJ”.
He said the council will soon start the civic discussion with the residents associations (RAs) regarding their feedback and the possible routes wanted.
He admitted that bus obstructions and small roads have put a big challenge to impose the sharp-on-time bus scheme.
“Therefore we are going to incorporate policies whereby any vehicle cannot obstruct the bus on the bus lane. The public can use the bus lane but they cannot go in front of the bus and obstruct it,” he said.
“This requires massive education for the drivers,” he added.
Meanwhile, MBPJ will setup a Misconduct Unit (salah laku) to hear the internal and external complaints in regards to misbehaviour.
The unit, inspired by audit firms, will give anonymity to whistleblowers when lodging complaints. However, there will be an emphasis on proper fact checking and evidence-gathering.
Derek said it will give the public confidence to speak out especially when dealing with misconduct from enforcement teams, including from the MBPJ.
In the full board meeting, the council also decided to rename Jalan Barat after Dr V David, who contributed significantly to the development of Petaling Jaya.
MBPJ meanwhile will defer its action against illegal gated security schemes until the guidelines from the federal government arereleased.
Admin
Jimmy Tan
