Ministry to propose NKVE stretch be closed for six months

BY WANI MUTHIAH

PETALING JAYA: The Works Ministry will recommend to the Cabinet that the rockfall site at the New Klang Valley Expressway (NKVE) near the Bukit Lanjan interchange be closed for six to seven months. 

Its minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said he would request for the closure at the Cabinet meeting next week so that the necessary repair, drainage and slope protection works could be carried out as soon as possible. 

Samy Vellu said that experts had identified more cracks in the area close to the rockfall site.  

“If we don’t do anything about it, more erosion may occur and this will move the rocks above and cause another rockslide,” Samy Vellu told reporters at a book launch of an anthology of Tamil short stories at Universiti Malaya yesterday. 

He added that senior officials from NKVE concessionaire Projek Lebuh Raya Utara Selatan (PLUS) and the Malaysian Highway Authority as well as local and foreign experts had briefed him on the options available to counter the situation. 

He said they had recommended three solutions, including either building a tunnel, opening up half of the road to allow cars to pass through or cut into the existing hill to make the slopes on both sides of the road less steep. 

“Building a tunnel will take a long time and also be far too expensive. I am against opening half of the road as this could be dangerous. So, we have decided to close the road and cut the slopes to reduce the steepness,” said Samy Vellu.