THE Selangor government should move on from the decision to scrap the PJD link, urged Rajiv Rishyakaran (PH-Bukit Gasing).
"We have said no and let's leave it at that. There would be no ending otherwise," he said, adding that there was nothing stopping the developers from submitting their application after each rejection.
"This matter has been brought up numerous times; the government has made an announcement after consideration and I hope that the matter is not raised each time the developer makes an appeal.
"Let's move on and look towards developing good public transport," said Rajiv at the Selangor State Assembly in Shah Alam.
"No city in the world with more than two million people and high (80%) car usage can solve traffic jams with highways," he pointed out.
He was speaking on the matter after it was raised by Afif Bahardin (PN-Taman Medan).
Rajiv said that although he supported development in general, there must be a push to improve public transport.
He lauded the state government's efforts to build 100km of pedestrian walkways in Selangor to boost public transport usage.
"However, I hope the target can be improved as they are relatively affordable and can be built by the many local contractors," he said.
He also called for each public transportation node to have proper walkways for a 1km radius in order to encourage more users to use public transport as well as emphasise the importance of park-and-ride facilities.
Speaking to reporters during the mid-session break, Rajiv said the homes of many of those opposing the PJD Link project were not directly affected by the proposed highway's alignment.
"They are opposed to it for the damage that it will do to our living environment.
"We cannot keep building highways on top of highways.
"Public transportation is still not good enough either.
"We need more buses, more routes and more frequency," he said.
Rajiv noted that there were many places that were disconnected from the public transport system, citing as example the State Secretariat building in Shah Alam.
"I hope that the state will propose a serious public transport programme to be included into the 13th Malaysia Plan," he added.
