KUALA LUMPUR: About 100 Taman Bukit Segar Jaya (TBSJ) 2 and 3 residents in Cheras protested outside TBSJ 2 against the Sungai Besi-Ulu Klang Elevated Expressway (SUKE), after launching their Community Entrance Beautification Programme yesterday.
Pandan MP, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat, who officiated the programme, commended residents for sticking to their guns against electrical pylons being built in their area, beside raising RM116,520 to beautify their area.
TBSJ2 Residents Association chairman Datuk Eadon Ching said the protest was because a politician had claimed no party was against SUKE.
"This is untrue."
He said the expressway concessionaires did not inform residents of the final plan for the project.
When asked if the project should be moved away from the area, he said it should be shelved completely and the government should focus on public transport instead.
Ong said the expressway project and power line pylons were a nightmare for residents who invested their life-savings into buying their homes there.
"It is misleading to claim there has never been any protest (against SUKE)," he said.
Ong had initially wanted to leave the matter to the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ), but was forced to intervene after such claims were made.
He said residents expressed concerns that a briefing by the council on the project was not minuted properly.
He said he would chair a meeting on the issue with SUKE concessionaire, Projek Lintasan Kota Holdings Sdn Bhd (Prolintas), and affected RAs today.
Residents from 14 neighbourhoods, including Taman Cheras Hartamas and TBSJ, have also opposed electrical pylons from being built in the area by Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), for the past three years.
On Dec 19, last year, 200 residents held two lie-down protests in front of the TNB headquarters in Bangsar and Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah building in Shah Alam after being denied an attempt to hand over a memorandum against a state-approved alternative route, to Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.