KenaSaman.com

A contra-flow bus lane will be implemented in Brickfields on Aug 20 despite objections from various parties.

The bus flow will run through the main road of Jalan Tun Sambanthan (from Esso/Public Bank) and cut off to Jalan Travers at the Little India Fountain and head for Seputeh through Jalan Tun Sambanthan (in front of Sri Paandi restaurant).

However, news of the contra-flow lane has caught all Brickfields stakeholders by surprise.

The La Salle Brickfields Parent-Teacher Association chairman Dr Christopher Nicholas said he was unaware of the decision.

“We were not told that they have decided to go ahead with the bus lane as planned. This will confuse the children, the blind and the elderly and they will have to adapt to the new system again,” he said.

Nicholas said the government was going against the people’s wishes with this decision.

Little India Action Committee chairman S. Pathavachalam said the bus lane would wreak havoc in Brickfields.

According to him, the original plan had a flyover from the Vivekananda Ashram heading towards a dispensary in Jalan Travers. Pathavachalam feels that this is the best solution as it will not create a bottleneck in front of Jalan Tun Sambanthan.

“They are already planning to construct three blocks of 36-storey buildings in the area and that itself will create a mess,” said Pathava-chalam.

Tamil Methodist Brickfields Church senior pastor Reverend Justin Clarance said the authorities forgot to take into account the various banks and businesses in the area.

“I feel they should do more studies in Little India. If the contra-flow bus lane is implemented, the customers of the five banks will have no place to park their cars,” he said.

Clarance believes that a comprehensive traffic study has to be carried out by independent experts who will have to take into account the lack of parking space.

Brickfields Business Community Society president Barath Maniam said he heard news of the bus lane through third parties and discussed it at a meeting with his members.

“This will affect the business operators as they need the space to load and unload goods and the designated bus lanes will remove the space for the lorries to park,” he said.

Barath Maniam said there was no need to rush into the idea and urged DBKL to conduct a proper study and consult everyone involved.

Another stakeholder S. Paranjothy said it was best to wait for the projects to be completed first and six months to study the problems before deciding on ways to improve the traffic system.

He also said after the six months all stakeholders should be consulted instead of just listening to certain parties.

Pathavachalam and other representatives recently met Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar to discuss the matter.

Nurul Izzah said the stakeholders had not been properly consulted before decisions were made from the beginning.

“The business operators had asked for parking lots after it was turned into a one-way street and now the lots on one side of the road will be taken away to make way for the bus lane.

“I will request for a traffic assessment report from the Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Ministry. I will also get independent traffic consultants to assess the impact of having a bus lane,” she said.

However, some residents were happy that the buses would not pass through Jalan Rozario and Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad as planned initially.

Read the full article:
http://www.starproperty.my/PropertyScen ... /13822/0/0