RESIDENTS in Kelana Jaya will face a traffic dilemma come end of March when the mixed development project Paradigm officially opens its doors.
“Right now, we enter and exit our residential area through Jalan SS7/26.
“Once the development is completed, it will be changed to one-way and the road will only allow cars to come in to SS7 from the Damansara-Puchong Highway (LDP).
“Cars going out of the area will have to use the other exit near the Kelana Jaya Medical Centre,” said Kelana Indah Residents Association chairman Dr S. Vignes.
Dr Vignes and representatives from several condominiums in the area recently called for a press conference at the site to highlight their problem.
Slow-moving: Even before the Paradigm tunnel (pictured right) opens, cars coming from the SS6 area near the Shell petrol station had to queue up to get onto the LDP. The Paradigm development consisting of a shopping centre and three blocks of office towers, is located along the LDP in Kelana Jaya, just opposite the Giant hypermarket.
Dr Vignes said a new tunnel had been built for cars coming out of Paradigm and the surrounding houses to get to the opposite side of the LDP without a need to wait at the traffic light.
“Besides Kelana Indah, there are also many condominiums and offices such as Sterling, Kelana Putri, Kelana Putra, Tiara Kelana and Kelana Square. These residents and office workers use Jalan SS7/26 to get onto the LDP,” he said.
Residents foresee a bottleneck at the exit just outside of the Giant Hypermarket because traffic from the tunnel, the Shell petrol station and from another new development Tarragon will all be merging into a one-lane service road that was dedicated to cars from the LDP turning into the hypermarket and the SS6 area.
Federation of SS7 Residents’ Associations (G7) committee member Francis Koh said in view of that situation, traffic would be backlogged into Paradigm and SS7 especially during peak hours.
“We are already experiencing bad congestion during peak hours now. Imagine how bad it is going to get with more cars expected to come from these development,” said Koh.
Dr Vignes said the developer was supposed to widen the road which connected the tunnel to the LDP, but the land at the edge of Giant’s car park had not been acquired for that purpose.
“We were told that the land belongs to the EPF (Employees Provident Fund) and not Giant.
“The EPF needs to get approval from their contributors before they can sell the land.
“There have been meetings with the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ), Litrak and the Malaysian Highway Authority but we have not heard any decision being made on the land acquisition, even though the mall is expected to open in three months,” he said.
Paradigm project manager Kuek Yong Huei from Jelas Puri Sdn Bhd said they were committed to widening the road but would not be able to do so until the 420sqm plot of land had been acquired.
There have been meetings conducted with various authorities in April, June and November and the EPF now requires an official request to acquire the land.
Dr Vignes said as long as the authorities stall on the land acquisition submission, the EPF would not be able to process the request and the road widening would be delayed. This in turn, would cause a major inconvenience to residents.
Kelana Jaya MP Loh Gwo Burne said he would call for a meeting with MBPJ to find out which authority should submit the application to acquire the land from EPF.
“They should then proceed with the application process so the land can be acquired and the road widened,” he said.
Dr Vignes said while the land issue was being sorted out, residents want the Jalan SS7/26 exit to remain two-way.
“If they make the road one-way before the tunnel bottleneck is addressed, we will have a nightmare trying to get out of this area,” he said.
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