HUNDREDS of angry residents felt belittled when Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) did not send a representative to a meeting organised by the joint action committee against the high voltage transmission line project in Cheras recently.
“TNB has no respect for us. We sent four buses full of residents to their office to try handing them the invitation letter to this meeting but they cannot even spare one person,” committee chairman Datuk Dr Eadon Ching said during his speech at the meeting held at the parking lot of the Cemara Flats in Taman Bukit Segar Jaya, Cheras.
Ching said he had received a reply from a TNB representative via text message that said most people were on holiday that day.
Support in droves: Many residents came for the meeting organised by the joint action committee against the TNB high voltage transmission line project in Cheras. He added that TNB had previously claimed that only two or three residents were unhappy with the project that involved constructing a 275/132kV transmission line to a substation in Mahkota Cheras.
“There are 25,000 residents living in the 14 affected housing areas. We hope Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim will hear our voice. It is not just a small number of people who are anxious about the project,” he said, adding that the committee consists of the resprentatives from various residents’ associations.
Ching said the Selangor government had once engaged an independent consultant from Australia to look into the Kampung Sungai Terentang issue and hoped they would do the same for them now.
He also said up to now, residents had already proposed four alternative routes for TNB.
One of these, known as alternative D, goes through low-density areas and undeveloped land that would avoid physical structures.
“Why has TNB not gotten back to us about this? In fact, the route we suggested shortens the line by almost 8km and will not need to enter the hills close to our homes that the MB himself said in 2008 high-risk areas for landslide,” Ching said, adding that the hills were part of the forest reserve and would affect the flora and fauna as well.
Ching highlighted the safety issue as one of the main concerns of the residents, saying that studies were only done in the area where the pylon would be placed.
“The whole area where the lines will cross has to be reviewed. Secondly, we have to consider the unseen and long-term effects such a transmission line will bring to residents who are staying here. Lastly, our property value may drop because of such a dangerous thing in the vicinity,” he said.
Ching said the first move for the committee was to set up a professional team to help tackle the problem.
“We hope mechanical and electrical engineers, geotechnical engineers, geologists and ecologists will step up to help us study this matter. We are also looking to form a legal team to help us take further action. Lastly, we want to engage the help of property valuers to see what will such a project have on our homes,” he said.
He said TNB had annnounced that it would be carrying on with the project using the original route residents had objected strongly against as the state government via the Selangor Economic Action Council had approved it in its Dec 9 meeting.
The route follows a zigzag course cutting through areas under the jurisdiction of the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council and Kajang Municipal Council.
This line will connect the main substation in Mahkota Cheras to the 275kV Serdang-Pudu Ulu and 132kV Balakong-Bandar Tun Razak existing lines that have reached maximum capacity and ensure sufficient supply to the Cheras area while taking into account future development needs in the area.
It was reported that part of the project also involves supplying electricity to the water treatment plant in Hulu Langat that has been reported to require 7MW (megawatts) by last year, additional 8MW next year and 18MW by 2014.
No comments:
Post a Comment