LETTERS: Election time is a good opportunity for Sungai Buloh constituents to bring up issues they feel merit attention and action from those vying for the parliamentary seat, which has more than 100,000 voters.
Over the years, Sungai Buloh has been transformed from a rural/semi-urban area to a mostly urban constituency due to the influx of residents into Kota Damansara, Damansara Damai and other housing schemes.
Due to the high density residential development, some major problems have surfaced. The most serious is the congestion on the main roads due to bottlenecks that the authorities have ignored for years.
The Dash highway, connecting the Pencala interchange and Puncak Perdana, was recently opened and it is expected to reduce congestion in some areas. However, the existing bottlenecks and congestion in Jalan Sungai Buloh and Jalan Subang are going to continue unless appropriate action is taken.
One of the major traffic jams occurs at the traffic light junction opposite the upscale Sierramas housing enclave near the Sungai Buloh toll plaza. One immediately faces heavy traffic congestion as soon as the toll has been paid. This traffic quagmire is the result of the narrow bridge built by PLUS Expressways Bhd (PLUS) when constructing the North-South Expressway (NSE).
Although many of the bridges along the NSE were widened more than a decade back to cope with the heavier traffic, this bridge, close to the boundary of PLUS' jurisdiction limit, was left untouched.
Because of this, vehicles, especially the heavy ones, have to negotiate the sharp turn slowly towards the direction of Damansara Damai/Kepong.
The slow pace of movement of heavy vehicles results in a massive traffic jam. The main problem here is the narrowness of the bridge despite having two lanes.
The congestion also blocks vehicles heading towards Jalan Sungai Buloh after exiting the toll plaza. PLUS has been aware of these problems for years, but no action has been taken. Either PLUS or the Works Ministry has to fund the widening of the bridge.
Another bottleneck occurs due to the narrow Jalan Welfare in Kampung Baru Sungai Buloh. This road, leading to a large residential and industrial area, is the only access road after the Jalan Baru-Jalan Subang junction was closed. This junction was closed when the road was widened about 15 years back and the closure was done without any foresight of the serious problems it would create.
The best solution will be to build a flyover above the Jalan Baru junction and re-open the blocked junction to provide an additional access to Kampung Baru Sungai Buloh.
Anyway, Jalan Sungai Buloh-Subang will have to be widened or upgraded any time now in view of the massive development of Kwasa Damansara. To this end, the horticultural nurseries along this road have been ordered to vacate before the end of the year.
Another issue I would like to highlight is the two abandoned building blocks — about 10 storeys high — that are an eyesore in the centre of Sungai Buloh. These buildings, between the MRT station and a Tamil school, have been left uncompleted for more than two decades.
In fact, a large number of the original allottees (squatters evicted from nearby areas) of the low-cost apartments have passed away and many of the remaining have been declared bankrupt by the banks for non-payment of housing loans.
The problems surrounding this issue are serious and complicated and need the assistance of a sympathetic member of parliament to resolve it as it concerns the Housing Ministry and other federal government departments.
V. THOMAS
Sungai Buloh, Selangor
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times