Yesterday morning, the local residents of Kampung Puah Seberang and Taman Sentul Utama held a protest to voice their unhappiness over a promise not kept by the builder of the DUKE Highway (Duta and Ulu Kelang Highway).
The contractor of the project is Konsortium Lebuhraya Utara-Timur (KL) Sdn Bhd.
For more than 40 years, the rakyat of Kg Puah Seberang (Wangsa Maju Constituency) and Tmn Sentul Utama (Batu Constituency) are closely knitted communities until this DUKE Highway came along.
The DUKE Highway is like a “Wall”, which suddenly divides the people of Kg. Puah Seberang and Tmn Sentul Utama and this “Wall” has also denied them easy access. The only easy access between the two communities would be a pedestrian cum motorcycle bridge, which is a common feature we see in most highways throughout the country.
Before the construction of this DUKE Highway, PLUS has agreed to build a pedestrian and motorbike bridge to link the two communities so that the children from Tmn Sentul Utama can attend school at Sekolah Rendah Agama Kg Puah, Setapak and the residents of both areas could have easy access to one another.
But the contractor, Konsortium Lebuhraya Utara-Timur (KL) Sdn Bhd, did not keep up to their promise and only built the pedestrian bridge. Hence the protest by about 150 residents of the area. The protest was also attended by YB Tian Chua, MP for Batu, and I. The rakyat of Kg Puah Seberang and Tmn Sentul Utama demand that the said contractor immediately build a motorcycle bridge for the said areas as had been promised.
On 15 May 2008, YB Tian Chua had officially writtten to PLUS to remind them to take immediate action to ensure that the motorcycle bridge is built. If there is no positive action from PLUS, YB Tian Chua and I will bring this matter to the attention of Parliament.
