Widened roads to ease traffic flow in Taman Desa

KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 15): Traffic congestion in Taman Desa, Kuala Lumpur, is expected to ease with the widening of three roads, Jalan Desa Bakti, Jalan Desa Utama and Jalan Desa Mesra.

Deputy Federal Territories minister Datuk Loga Bala Mohan said City Hall had widened the roads following residents' complaints of traffic congestion in Taman Desa.

"City Hall received a lot of feedback from residents about the road congestion here, so, after an inspection, we decided to widen the roads," he said.

Loga said similar projects would be carried our in other parts of the city to ease traffic congestion.

City Hall Project Implementation and Maintenance executive director Datuk Tan Keng Chok said the road-widening project in Taman Desa cost RM800,000, which would come out of City Hall's annual budget of RM10 million for minor infrastructure repairs.

"Work started on April 27 and took 19 weeks to complete on Sept 6," he said.

"We widened the roads and added another lane. We also installed a U-turn so that motorists from the Salak Highway can easily turn into the East-West Link Expressway and onto the Federal Highway.

"We inspected the area after we were informed by residents that many motorists were using the road as a shortcut to Petaling Jaya. There is a school here so during peak hours, there is heavy traffic," he said.

Taman Desa Residents' Association president William Chan was glad that City Hall had listened to the residents.

"We were begging City Hall to do it and luckily, with the help of Datuk Loga, it has done it.

Chan said the completion of new condominiums and offices being built would make the traffic congestion in Taman Desa unbearable if the roads were not widened.

"Across the road, a new condominium with 1,388 units and two 15-storey office blocks will be ready by the end of the year.

"If they need to go towards the Federal Highway or Petaling Jaya, they will need to come through here. So if the roads were not widened and the U-turn installed, it would be bad," he said.

Chan said City Hall had told the residents that the road-widening was just phase one of the plan to smoothen traffic flow. It said a flyover would be built in 2018 to allow those who lived or worked in the new condominium and office buildings access to the highways without coming into Taman Desa.

"This is what we have been told but we will have to see what happens when the new condominium and office buildings are occupied," he said.