Land acquisition for ECRL not approved yet

The tunnel construction in Bentong, Pahang for the ECRL project took place in January this year. — Filepic

THE Selangor government has yet to approve the Federal Government’s land acquisition request to build the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) for section C1B passing through Gombak district.

State local government, public transport and new village development committee chairman Ng Sze Han said the proposal has been approved only in principle.

“The Transport Ministry has submitted an application to the Department of Director-General of Land and Mines (JKPTG).

“This will be sent to the Mentri Besar (Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari) for review and approval before it is gazetted,” he said in response to a question from Lee Kee Hiong (PH-Kuala Kubu Bharu).

Ng: The MB will have to review the land acquisition application for gazetting.

As for section C2, which passes through Gombak, Klang, Hulu Selangor and Kuala Selangor districts, Ng said the application was still being processed by JKPTG.

Preliminary works, he said, could only commence after the gazettement of sections C1B and C2 were finalised.

“Any applications for small work sites must also obtain limited-time planning approval from the relevant local councils,” he said, adding that acquisitions of private land could only be made after compensation had been paid to owners and endorsed in the grants.

Ng also said that issues involving Malay reserve land must be resolved in accordance with the land rules of Selangor.

Section C1B spans 180.4ha while C2 will pass through Gombak (158.3ha), Klang (131.8ha), Kuala Selangor (118.7ha) and Hulu Selangor (160.1ha).

Syamsul Firdaus Mohamed Supri (PH-Taman Medan) then asked if there were plans to revert ECRL to its original alignment as proposed by the Pakatan Harapan federal government in 2018.

In reply, Ng said no such plans were made and the northern alignment spanning 90.3km had been finalised.

The Pakatan government had proposed for the line to go south after Temerloh, passing through Negri Sembilan, Putrajaya and ending in Pulau Indah.

Known then as the Southern Alignment, it was thought that this route would cost less and reduce impact on the environmental.

Selangor said the alignment would skip water catchment areas around its river basin hence minimising land acquisition issues.

Subsequently, then Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong announced that the original alignment, also known as the Northern Alignment, would be restored, after a Cabinet meeting on Sept 2, 2020.