CAMERON HIGHLANDS: The one-way traffic rule will be made permanent in Brinchang town following a trial run in the last few months, despite opposition by some locals.
Cameron Highlands District Council president Datuk Zainal Abidin Md Amin said the decision was reached by the Cameron Highlands district-level committee comprising all local government agencies in a meeting earlier today.
"Based on the monitoring by government agencies including the Public Works Department (PWD) and the police, we arrived at the conclusion that the one-way traffic rule has brought positive results.
"Peak-hour traffic congestion had been reduced significantly ever since the trial started on the one-way system started on March 17.
"The public, including tourists, had also given positive feedback to us," he told The New Straits Times.
Zainal Abidin said those who opposed the implementation are in the minority who refused to change their lifestyle for the greater good of the public.
A submission will be made to the state government soon to gazette the one-way traffic rule.
The road will be widened by the PWD and some buildings might have to be demolished to make way for the road widening.
Regional Environment Awareness Cameron Highlands (REACH) president Ramakrishnan Ramasamy however described the new one-way traffic rule as 'idiotic'.
He said the real solution to the traffic problem is by providing more parking spaces.
"The local council has been approving licenses for business premises and stalls, which occupy vacant spaces by the roadsides.
‘As a result, motorists can’t find parking spaces when they need it,” he said.
He pointed out that the congestion problem in Brinchang is also due to the bottleneck at the nearby Kea Farm where the many roadside stalls have been causing traffic chaos.
Ramasamy said the locals are still hoping that the Regent of Pahang Tengku Mahkota Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah will weigh in on the issue.
He noted that a petition of more than 1,000 signatures was submitted to Tengku Abdullah’s aide-de-camp (ADC) in April.
“We earnestly hope for a royal intervention as His Royal Highness, just like the Sultan of Pahang, Sultan Ahmad Shah, has always been attentive to the welfare of the people,” he said.
He added that the local government had never consulted the local community in reconsidering the one-way traffic plan.