Petaling Jaya Dispersal Link (PJD Link) Highway Project Cancelled

The controversial PJD Link Elevated Highway Project has been scrapped by caretaker Selangor MB.

The Petaling Jaya Dispersal Link elevated highway project has been given the axe by caretaker Selangor Menteri Besar, Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari today ahead of next month’s state elections. The Menteri Besar today announced the cancellation of PJD, citing that it had failed to meet requirements and said that development in Selangor should have a balance in terms of sustainability, economic progress and not cause harm to residents.

Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari also said that his administration was not satisfied with the Social Impact Assessment Report for the project. The PJD Link had been given conditional approval in April of 2022 by the previous federal government under ex-Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

The PJD Link has been attracting loads of criticism since it was first proposed. The project was to be headed up by Emrail Sdb Bhd, a company that had been involved with the Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (KIDEX), which had also been scrapped. PJD Link and KIDEX both share a similar route as an alternative to the Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong (LDP) highway. PJD Link was to be an elevated dual carriage expressway stretching over 34km from the North Klang Valley Expressway to the Bukit Jalil interchange. Its aim was to reduce traveling time between Damansara and Kinrara by 25% and would have cost RM2 billion to create.

Protests against the PJD Link by Petaling Jaya residents has been continuous. Some of the complaints against it included:

• Its poor design which did not incorporate existing highways well
• its proximity to existing buildings and structures
• a perceived lack of adequate drainage
• proximity to residential areas

Petaling Jaya residents also pointed out that building an additional highway ran contrary to Petaling Jaya City Council’s aspiration to achieve low carbon status by 2030.

While the timing of the highway project’s cancellation does seem politically motivated, we can’t help but feel good about this development. It shows that a bit of activism can go a long way and that with the right people in power, not every big ticket infrastructure project will be blindly greenlit.