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Saturday, January 8, 2011

A bridge too far - Komunitikini.malaysiakini.com



A bridge too far
by Leven Woon on 7 Jan, 2011
in Content - News.
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Residents here today staged a rally in front of SK Semenyih to demand for a pedestrian bridge to be built over Jalan Semenyih, so that some 6,000 students from the five schools nearby will be able to cross the road without risking their lives. They claimed that accidents here are a regular occurence.

Semenyih folks were promised by the then Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussien in January 2008 that a pedestrian bridge over Jalan Semenyih would be built soon. Three years later, the bridge has not been built.

The Hulu Langat MP Dr Che Rosli Che Mat first raised the issue on May 7, 2008.

The Public Works Department of Hulu Langat had responded in May 28 that preparations for the construction of the bridge were in its final stages.

In August 2008, the Public Works Department of Hulu Langat announced that the project had to be postponed because there was no budget allocation for it.

Led by three Kajang Municipal councillors, Samsol Bahari, Mohyiddin Mohamed Msebah and S Arutchelvan, the crowd, which numbered around twenty, gathered at 2pm, attracted the attention of many passers-by after Friday prayers.

They demanded the Public Works Ministry immediately restart the pedestrian bridge project over Jalan Semenyih, which is a federal road.

Arutchelvan claimed that the Public Works Ministry is withholding approval of the project although a sponsor had agreed to fund it in Nov 2008, and building plans were submitted in May last year. He has written to the Public Works Minister, Shaziman Abu Mansor, to expedite approval.

“[W]e don’t see the people’s lives being prioritised.” he said.

Attempts to contact the Public Works Ministry for a response before time of writing were unsuccessful.

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