Kudos For Scrapping Selangor S Pjd Link Highway Now Stop Penang S Mega Reclamation

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Aliran has just released the following statement:
Aliran is overjoyed by the Selangor government’s decision to scrap the controversial Petaling Jaya Dispersal Link (PJD Link) highway project.
It is a victory for the PJ residents who have campaigned tirelessly against this 34km highway project.
The project had caused immense unhappiness to the thousands of residents who would have been affected by the ecological damage and noise and air pollution.
The Pakatan Harapan-led Selangor government’s cancellation of this project comes ahead of a closely contested state election on 12 August, in which PH faces a strong challenge from the opposition Perikatan Nasional.
While the decision to scrap the project may be made out of political expediency to win over fence-sitters, Aliran is relieved at this turn of events.
Concern for our ecosystems should prevail with or without elections. All the same, we are glad it took a looming election for the Selangor government to finally heed the concerns of the affected residents. Who says state elections don’t matter?
Likewise, we hope the Penang state government will follow Selangor’s lead and abandon its mega-reclamation project in prime fishing waters off the southern coast of Penang Island.
This will safeguard the people’s food security and the livelihoods of the fisherfolk in the northern region. Scrapping the reclamation would also be more in keeping with the spirit of the state government’s “Penang Green Agenda”.
We also urge the Penang government to scrap the ecologically risky highway project from Teluk Bahang to Tanjung Bungah along sensitive landslide-prone hill slopes in northern Penang Island.
Instead, we reiterate the call for the new Penang government after the state election to engage sustainable mobility experts to come up with a fresh state-wide sustainable mobility masterplan that would prioritise people over cars.
Aliran executive committee
31 July 2023

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