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MOTORISTS using the Persiaran Tropicana-Jalan Tanjung stretch in Bandar Utama yesterday morning were disgruntled to find that the road has been closed to traffic.

The entrance from Lebuh Bandar Utama turning into Jalan Tanjung has been barricaded, preventing cars from turning into SJK(C) Damansara, Riana Green condominium, Tropi­cana and also Kota Damansara.

Cars from Persiaran Surian and Sunway Damansara trying to go straight from Jalan PJU 3/22 were also prevented from going straight towards Jalan Tanjung.

Rela officers were stationed at the Lebuh Bandar Utama junction (near Bandar Utama Technology Park) while traffic police tried to control the traffic at the Riana Green junction, where a signboard with the words “No Through Road” was put up.

In place: Barriers were set up overnight to prevent motorists from turning into Jalan Tanjung.

However, that did not deter irritated motorists from trying to force their way through and many even shouted at the police officers for not letting them through.

Not being able to prevent the stubborn morning commuters from trying to turn in, the officers removed their motorbikes at about 8.30am and allowed cars to turn into Jalan Tanjung.

Motorists discovered that the road was closed and they had to make a U-turn at the Technology Park.

There was a long line of cars along Lebuh Bandar Utama at the BU11 and BU12 junction as cars exiting through Persiaran Tropicana spilled out onto the road.

The road was initially scheduled to be turned into a one-way traffic flow coming out of Tropicana on Nov 20 and to be closed six months later.

At about 1am on Monday, barriers were already put up at the junction and even though traffic was not heavy, some motorists trying to turn into Jalan Tanjung were confused when told that the road has been closed.

Bandar Utama City Corporation Sdn Bhd (BUCC) issued a notice in StarMetro yesterday explaining the history of the agreement between them and Dijaya Corporation.

Among some of the points raised in the notice were:

·A 1993 agreement granted temporary access to privately-owned land by BUCC to Dijaya Corporation;

·This temporary access was to be removed once Lebur Bandar Utama (completed in 1995) is completed, ready for Persiaran Tropicana to be connected;

·There are several approved and existing accesses to Tropicana like the Lebuh Bandar Utama, Persiaran Bukit Utama, Persiaran Surian, Kota Damansara-NKVE and the twin tunnels under NKVE along Persiaran Tropicana;

·The residents associations had reneged on the agreement to make Jalan Tanjung one-way on Nov 20 and to close it six months later. It was also agreed that with urgency MBPJ and their traffic consultant plan for more accesses to cope with the massive developments;

·BUCC is forced to close the temporary access after 14 years, especially when Bandar Utama residents are directly being affected by worsening traffic on a temporary access on private land not meant to be a road; and

·BUCC has also filed a case in court to protect their rights.

[tags : opaldamansara condo property home residents sunway semid condominium ODJMC]

THE SUDDEN and immediate closure of Jalan Tanjung in Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya, took many by surprise, especially urban commuters and parents who had to send their children to the SJK(C) Damansara.

Even police officers who were stationed at the junctions to direct traffic were shouted at as motorists demanded to know why they were prevented from using the road.

Those who were obstinate and insisted on turning into the road only to see the road blocked had to make a U-turn back to the Riana Green junction.

On the surface, the tussle is between the developers of Bandar Utama and Tropicana, as an agreement was signed in 1993 to use the land owned by Bandar Utama as a temporary access into Tropicana.

In reality, many developments including high-rise dwellings have sprouted along the area, and thousands of cars now ply the road as a shortcut between Kota Damansara and Bandar Utama, with access onto the NKVE and Sprint highways.

While the Bandar Utama developers have every right to take back what is theirs, the closure of the road would affect many residents from Tropicana and beyond.

Last week, more than 11,000 signatures were collected from residents who were calling for the state government to keep the road open.

The Bandar Utama Residents Association was in full support of the road closure. Some residents staying in BU11 and BU12 were angered because traffic coming in from Persiaran Tropicana, which was the approved permanent access road, would spill onto their part of Lebuh Bandar Utama.

The domino effect would also be felt by residents from Kampung Chempaka and Aman Suria, who also use Lebuh Bandar Utama as an access road.

There was a slight congestion at the Tropicana tunnel and the road leading into BU11 and BU12 on the first day of the road closure and the long queue of cars past the morning peak hour was unusual for that stretch.

Many felt that the congestion was alleviated due to the SPM examinations and that most secondary schoolchildren were on holiday.

The state government now has an important decision to make to not only appease residents on both sides of the divide but also be fair to all parties concerned.

Some residents I spoke to also resented comments made by Bukit Lanjan assemblyman Elizabeth Wong, who is also a state executive councillor, which they felt were one-sided and made without thorough understanding of the issue at hand.

Residents are getting agitated and they want a swift decision on the matter.

The MBPJ would also have to answer to taxpayers the reason it had approved so many developments in the area, knowing very well that the piece of land was privately owned and never surrendered as a permanent road.

The council had also allowed the PJU3/22 through road from Persiaran Surian that joins both Persiaran Tropicana and Jalan Tanjung, knowing that the latter sat on privately-owned land.

This tussle also saw the parties involved using the media to advertise their stand, with a full-page notice on Saturday jointly issued by the various RAs calling for the state government to acquire the land and a half-page notice yesterday issued by the Bandar Utama developer to explain their side of the story and why they are closing the road.

Unless the state government steps in to find an amicable or at least workable solution soon, the brewing tension could turn into a second episode of the Bandar Mahkota Cheras drama.

[tags : opaldamansara condo property home residents sunway semid condominium ODJMC]

Jalan Tanjung at Bandar Utama road close

The group also decided to:

>> lodge a police report against BUCC for barricading part of the road that is public property;

>> consider seeking a court injunction against BUCC; and

>> confirming with the mentri besar whether he and the state executive councillors will be meeting with representastives of the RAs on Thursday.

Action Group Against The Closure of Jalan Tanjung, Bandar Utama chairman Mohd Shukri Zain said: "BUCC only owns 800m of the road but they barricaded more than that."

He said part of the land where the barriers were placed -- where the i-Tech building was located -- did not belong to BUCC and was public property.

Mohd Shukri, who is also the Tropicana RA vice-president, said the closure of the road "during the wee hours of the morning" caught many residents by surprise.

"I was informed by a Tropicana resident at 1am that the road closure had been enforced despite BUCC saying the closure will only be enforced on Friday," he said.

"I went to the site at 2 am and found several plastic and concrete barriers put up in front of the entrance to Jalan Tanjung near the traffic lights and also near the i-Tech building."

Mohd Shukri said the barricading of the road had inconvenienced many residents and created a massive traffic jam.

He also said he would be calling Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim tomorrow to ascertain if there would be a meeting between him, the Selangor state executive councillors and representatives of the RAs on Thursday "as said by Bukit Lanjan assemblyman and exco member Elizabeth Wong.

One of the representatives of the RAs had reported receiving a message from Wong asking them to stay calm and "not do anything rash" as a meeting was being arranged for Thursday.

According to the representative, the message indicated the state government may consider acquiring the land in question from BUCC.

Last Tuesday, Mohd Shukri led a 19-man delegation to hand over a petition to Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) urging it and the state government to intervene and stop the closure of Jalan Tanjung.

The next day, Puasa announced that the council would write to BUCC to postpone its decision to close down the ungazetted road until a more viable solution was found.

BUCC ran an advertisement in an English language daily today to explain its side of the story.

It had also put up notices to inform motorists that the ungazetted Jalan Tanjung would be turned into a one-way street on Friday and closed for good six months later.

Shukri also denied a claim that the RAs "reneged on the agreed agreement" supposedly reached after a series of meetings held with Wong, MBPJ officers and councillors.

"We did not agree on the decision to make Jalan Tanjung a one-way street, except for the Bandar Utama representatives who were present," he said, adding that the RAs had the minutes to prove it.

BUCC had, in 1993, signed an agreement allowing Dijaya Corporation (Dijaya) to use the land temporarily to access areas for Tropicana development.

[tags : opaldamansara condo property home residents sunway semid condominium ODJMC]

[tags : opaldamansara condo property home residents sunway semid condominium ODJMC]

[tags : opaldamansara condo property home residents sunway semid condominium ODJMC]

THE PETALING Jaya City Council (MBPJ) will present its findings on the Jalan Tanjung issue to the Selangor Economic Action Council (MTES).

It was announced recently that the road in Bandar Utama, which is used as a connection between Bandar Utama and areas like Tropicana and Sunway Damansara, would be closed after being used as a temporary access road for 12 years.

“We will submit a proposal to the state, taking into account the views of the residents,” said Petaling Jaya mayor Datuk Mohamad Roslan Sakiman after launching the MBPJ crow-shooting competition at its headquarters yesterday.

He said that one of the alternatives presented to the state was to acquire the piece of private land belonging to the Bandar Utama developer.

“We are also looking at widening the road because it is a heavily congested,” said Roslan.

If the developer was not in favour of selling the land, then the council would leave it to the state government to decide on the matter.

Meanwhile, MBPJ secretary Puasa Md Taib earlier told StarMetro that the council would also send a letter of request to the developer to put on hold the closing of the road.

“We are in the process of determining the status of the land on which the remainder of the road sits on, as the different portions belonged to different owners,” he said.

CPO Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar said that the police have not been consulted on the proposed road closure.

“They have not invited us for any discussion on the traffic situation there.

“We will wait and see. If invited, we will give our views on the matter,” he said.

Commenting on a full page notice in the StarMetro on Saturday jointly issued by the various residents associations calling for the state government to acquire the land, Bandar Utama Residents Association (BURA) chairman Datuk Manpal Singh said that the association would continue to support the closure of Jalan Tanjung.

“We are requesting for the developers within Tropicana to find another access road out of their area as the current bridge can’t cope with the traffic,” said Manpal.

He said that there are still ongoing high-end development within Tropicana which would rely on the same infrastructure. This would generate additional traffic.

“Why must BU residents continue to bear the brunt of the traffic problems as a result of the increase in the number of developments in the Tropicana area?” said Manpal.

He added that there was currently a way out through Persiaran Surian leading onto the highway.

He reiterated that only a minority of BU residents who do not understand the situation appeared to support the petition of the road.

“The only one who has an legitimate claim on using the road is the school (referring to SJKC Damansara), as parents have to send their children to school,” said Manpal.

[tags : opaldamansara condo property home residents sunway semid condominium ODJMC]