THE government has recently taken the initiative to alleviate the standards of living in People’s Housing Project (PPR) in KL and Selangor.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in early April announced an allocation of RM35 million for programmes to empower communities in PPRs in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.
This is in addition to the RM50 million already allocated in Budget 2023 as part of efforts to make PPRs more people-centred and safe.
The combined allocation is intended to replace outdated lifts, provide educational support for weak students, provide free internet access in selected PPR locations as well as a fund to boost people’s economic activities.
This news is most welcome given the dilapidated conditions of these flats.
However, one issue is, more often than not, overlooked in efforts to make PPRs more liveable.
Given that these housing units have high population densities, overcrowding is a serious issue.
This is evident in the number of cars seen parked within and outside the vicinity of PPRs.
As there are not enough parking spaces, residents tend to park along the roadside.
This turns a two-lane road into a one-way lane causing inconveniences for cars passing through.
Motorists will have to drive through slowly and carefully to avoid ramming cars parked along the roadside.
Sometimes people are forced to reverse if they are unable to make that turn due to parked cars blocking road.
They take up valuable space in an already confined area, adding to the list of factors that make it less liveable.
The space taken up by cars could otherwise be used for recreational or social activities such as jogging, garden spaces or anything else that would contribute to increasing the quality of life in this living space.
One way to best solve this issue is to prioritise PPRs in public bus service planning.
If PPR residents find that they are able to depend on public bus services in their area as a means of transport, the need to own vehicles would gradually be reduced, thus effectively reducing vehicle congestion in PPRs.
To achieve this, public bus services need to be reliable with a high frequency. Apart from that, the bus routes should cover a wide network range.
A special focus should be given to connecting PPR locations to train stations.
With the recent introduction of the My50 unlimited travel pass that offers 30 days of unlimited rides on all Rapid KL LRT, MRT, Monorail, BRT, Rapid KL and MRT feeder buses, this would be the cherry on the cake for PPR residents.
On the other hand, this would also help increase the current low rail ridership of MRT1 and MRT2.
By utilising public transport, PPR residents get to save on costs by not having to fork out money for petrol and tolls.
Early this year, the government announced that they would provide Prasarana Malaysia Bhd with a total of RM2.8 billion to improve train and bus services, which includes increasing the number of buses.
With the increase in the number of buses, I hope that public bus services in KL, Selangor and other places would be more reliable in terms of higher frequency and larger network areas covered.
As they plan new bus routes, I hope that our B40 community would be taken into account.
Improving public bus services in PPR housing areas would definitely improve their life quality by reducing car congestion at their living place in addition to making it easier for them to access opportunities out there.
Comments: letters@thesundaily.com
