The Say No To DASH (SNTD) group wants answers on the status of the Damansara Shah Alam Highway (DASH) project from Bukit Lanjan assemblyman Elizabeth Wong.
In an open letter to Wong, the group said that the Selangor government had kept mum about the issues raised and refused to refute or criticise these actions and statements.
To rub salt into its wounds, the group said it was seeing contractors carrying out road surveys on a regular basis and they had admitted the work was for the DASH project.
“Wong was notified by our residents and she failed to respond to any of them.
“It has been 4 years and counting since, and yet, we still have not received an official statement or press release from the Selangor government on the decision to stop the DASH alignment from going through Damansara Perdana once and for all.
“We have placed our utmost trust in her as our assemblyman with Pakatan Rakyat (sic) as the ruling state party but we, the residents, are losing faith.
“We have met Wong several times in meetings with our grievances on the DASH project. In our last meeting, Wong assured us that she would be solving this issue once and for all,” said the group.
SNTD said that Wong mentioned that an alternative route out of Damansara Perdana and Mutiara Damansara would be proposed and it would be on her list of priorities to raise it, discuss and resolve it with Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali.
“The Selangor government has not provided any confirmation that the realignment will take place as proposed, other than pushing the buck for the problem to be resolved between residents and the Malaysian Highway Authority, the latter an obvious project proponent just waiting for the construction to begin.
“We are reading statements from Prolintas that the DASH project will proceed with the current alignment and adverts for tender are openly printed in major newspapers.
“In our last meeting, Wong told us that these ads were not approved or supported by the Selangor government.
“Countless times, technical flaws on the current alignment have been pointed out,” said the group.
The Malaysian Insider reported on November 4, 2015 that there was no new plan for the DASH realignment from the Malaysian Highway Authority and Prolintas, contrary to Azmin’s statement.
Azmin had told the Selangor state assembly that the concessionaire, Prolintas had submitted a new plan for the expressway’s final alignment following the residents’ protest.
However, SNTD has said that the new plan was merely to redesign the highway in terms of ramps, measurements, noise barriers and such, and had nothing to do with realignment.
“Firstly, Prolintas has already presented the so-called new design to the residents’ representatives and Bukit Lanjan assemblyman Elizabeth Wong, Subang MP R. Sivarasa and MBPJ councillors (in a separate meeting) in May this year,” said SNTD in a statement.
SNTD said Azmin’s knowledge of the matter was “outdated” and failed to acknowledge SNTD’s memorandum sent to him on May 25, rejecting the new design as merely an enhancement of noise barriers and ramps on the same alignment, signed by all the affected joint management bodies, residents’ associations and church in Damansara Perdana and Mutiara Damansara.
SNTD said the residents met Wong on September 11, 2015, to seek answers again on why the Selangor government insisted that the DASH highway be inserted into the Petaling Jaya Local Plan 2 amendment exercise.
“Wong told us that the landowners could request such amendments. From the land acquisition gazetted on July 27, 2012 and October 24, 2013, it looks like the land owners Wong spoke of were none other than the Selangor government representatives after all.
“We notice this as the first land acquisition notice was made three months after the ‘assuring’ speech given by Wong, representing as our assemblyman.
“These notices must be authorised by the state exco and Wong has been part of it since 2008. Wong has convinced us voters that the government and party she serves brings change to our community but we have our doubts now.
“SNTD would like to know if we have picked the right elected assemblyman. We are now openly questioning Wong, and her fellow Pakatan politicians’ leadership and integrity.
“If Wong or any of the Pakatan politicians truly have the accountability, this burning DASH issue would have been resolved in a short space of time with a correction to the Prolintas statement immediately and a firm decision made by Azmin that Pakatan is against highways crossing through residential townships.
“Yes, we are aware of the importance of the DASH highway to certain developers who have sold properties to buyers on the promise of an access to this highway.
“We are also aware the role this highway plays to sustain Selangor development plans and possibly to maintain a healthy cash flow in the long run,” said the group.
SNTD said that it was not entirely against the construction of DASH but the residents requested the project be realigned out of Mutiara Damansara and Damansara Perdana because, to most of them, this was their only home and the two townships had no place for a six-lane elevated highway in their midst.
“It is absurd and unethical right to allow such a monstrous highway into such a dense township, based on the proposed plan and diagram presented, which has clear and intentional flaws to mislead and gain approval.
“It is utmost betrayal of our trust and faith in the Pakatan government, should this highway come through Damansara Perdana.
“As it stands now, our opinion of Pakatan Harapan is it is no different from Barisan Nasional.
“We held our faith in Wong and her promises and have pledged our support, but four years with an unresolved solution is unacceptable.
“We have been liberal, patient and understanding all these while but not anymore.”
“Simply put, if comes a day we are forced to take legal action against the Selangor government, it means Wong has failed in her job to represent us at the state assembly and her party has indeed failed the people here,” said the group. – January 28, 2016.
selangoronline.com 
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