RM300million Congestion Mitigation Exercise

As the sole highway linking the north and south parts of the Klang Valley, the Damansara-Puchong Highway (LDP) is choked with traffic, especially during the peak hours in the morning and evening.

Since January 1999, the highway, which is 40km long, has provided a link between Kepong, Damansara, Sungai Penchala, Bandar Sunway, Puchong and Putrajaya.

Over the years, many commercial and residential projects have mushroomed along the highway causing greater congestion much to the frustration of highway users.

According to Lingkaran Trans Kota Sdn Bhd (Litrak) chief executive officer Sazally Saidi, 66 mixed-development projects have taken off along the highway since 1999.

Saidi said the irony of the LDP was that out of the average 1.8 million users daily in January this year, only 400,000 were paying toll while the rest were just passing through.

The situation at the LDP will get worse as the number of users is set to increase.

In Puchong, for instance, the Setia Walk project is estimated to contribute 2,544 vehicles during the morning peak hours and 3,017 in the evening.

The traffic near the Sunway toll will probably worsen when the new Taylor’s College at PJS 7 is up in the future with the estimated users at 1,323 in the morning and 1,846 in the evening.

Not far away, the Lagoon Perdana and Sunway South Quay development will contribute over 6,000 vehicles during peak hours in the morning and evening.

In Petaling Jaya, the completion of the Tropicana City Mall is estimated to add 534 vehicles in the morning and 4,060 in the evening onto the LDP.

The Paradigm mixed-development in Kelana Jaya will also contribute between 3,000 and 4,500 vehicles.

“There are seven highways in the east-west direction, namely the North Klang Valley Expressway, Penchala Link, Damansara Link, Federal Highway, New Pantai Expressway, Shah Alam Expressway and South Klang Valley Expressway.

“But the LDP is the sole highway servicing the north-south direction,” Litrak communications head Bhavani Krishna Iyer said.

On Oct 13 last year, the then Works Minister Datuk Mohd Zin Mohamed was reported as saying that the Government was studying a proposal for an alternative highway to the LDP to help reduce the traffic congestion.

However, this is not happening, as pointed out by Works Ministry secretary-general Datuk Thomas George when met at the launch of Litrak’s Frequent Travellers Pro­gramme recently.
“No such project is being planned as far as I am concerned.

“From the feedback we gathered, the congestion is bad during the peak hours and it’s fine otherwise. It’s the responsibility of the concessionaire to ensure a smooth flow along the highway,” he said.

The good news is, Litrak is going to spend RM300mil for congestion mitigation work that will begin in the third quarter of the year and is expected to be completed in three years.

Litrak group director Datuk Azmi Mat Nor said this was Litrak’s third enhancement project.

“The first one completed in 2005 involved six interchanges, highway expansion, toll plaza expansion and system improvement. It cost about RM400mil.

“The second one at RM200mil is the upgrading of Taman Tun Dr Ismail interchange and the widening of Motorola interchange, which is now ongoing.

“About 40% of the total toll collection revenue as at March 31 this year has been allocated for all three projects.

“For each ringgit collected from toll users, we are giving them back 42sen in the way of highway enhancements,” he said.

For this latest mitigation plan, work will be conducted at six critical congestion hotspots namely Persiaran Surian into LDP, Daman­sara Utama interchange to SS2 interchange, Puchong Jaya interchange, Puchong Intan interchange, Puchong Perdana interchange and Puchong Perdana interchange to Kampung Bharu Puchong interchange.

There will also be an expansion for three toll plazas — Penchala, Puchong Barat and Puchong Selatan — for added capacity.

“We will have additional staggered toll collection lanes at these toll plazas,” Sazally said.

Source: The Star