By Chan Quan Min
A costly elevated highway snaking through some of Petaling Jaya’s most densely populated areas could hurt Khalid’s popularity with the electorate and worsen his already distant ties within Pakatan Rakyat lawmakers.
The Kinrara–Damansara Expressway or Kidex for short is a 14.9 kilometre fully elevated highway project estimated to cost RM2.2 billion (some estimates cite RM2.4 billion). For its length, Kidex is the country’s most expensive highway yet at RM148 million per kilometre to construct.
For comparison purposes, the 7.7 kilometre fully elevated Ampang–Kuala Lumpur Elevated Highway (Akleh) completed in 2001 cost RM98 million per kilometre to construct. Kidex costs 50% more per km. Both Akleh and the future Kidex are two-lane dual carriageways.
A more recent project, the partly elevated and much wider Duta–Ulu Klang Expressway (DUKE) cost even less to construct at just RM65 million per kilometre. Kidex costs 2.3 times that.
The highway concession holder is Kidex Sdn Bhd. Its two shareholders are Emrail Sdn Bhd with a 70% stake and Zabima Engineering Construction Sdn Bhd with the remaining 30%.
Emrail has been linked to former Chief Justice Zaki Azmi through his wife’s directorship. UMNO legal advisor Mohd Hafarizam Harun is a director in both Emrail and Zabima Engineering.
When Kidex was awarded the contract in early-2012, Pakatan Rakyat leaders claimed the concession agreement was a ‘reward’ to Zaki and Hafarizam for their work during the Perak constitutional crisis of 2009, which began with three Pakatan Rakyat state assemblypersons defecting to Barisan National.
Both Zaki and Hafarizam have denied such allegations. In an interview today with radio station BFM, Kidex CEO Mohd Nor Idrus said he was certain there was more than one bidder for the highway concession. “I believe we won by merit,” he claimed.
Khalid going it alone, again
One stumbling block to Kidex getting off the ground is obtaining Selangor state government approval to conduct land acquisition, although state approval for the actual construction project is not required per se, DAP MP Tony Pua told KiniBiz.
Despite this, evidence at this stage suggests the Selangor state government will allow the project to proceed despite opposition from Petaling Jaya residents and Pakatan Rakyat state assemblypersons.
Khalid Ibrahim
In an apparent repeat of his manoeuvres throughout the ongoing Selangor water consolidation exercise, Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim is appearing to keep his cards close to his chest, straining his already distant ties with Pakatan Rakyat lawmakers
‘The state government has agreed in principle to Kidex project but it will be subjected to traffic and social impact assessment reports,” he wrote on his twitter account last Saturday.
Five Selangor state assemblypersons banded together earlier this month to call for more transparency on the Kidex concession agreement, claiming the project’s traffic impact assessment report was unfairly protected under the Official Secrets Act 1972.
Instead of an elevated highway, R Rajiv (Bukit Gasing), together with Lau Weng San (Kampung Tunku), Yeo Bee Yin (Damansara Utama) and Ng Sze Han (Kinrara) proposed public transport alternatives such as light rail transit (LRT) or bus rapid transit (BRT) for the Kidex alignment.
The lawmakers, however, stopped short of condemning the highway project despite being critical of the cost and environmental impact as well as siding with residents opposed to the construction.
“We are refraining from opposing until we see the right facts and figures by an independent body, then we can make an educated and informed decision,” Yeo said, echoing Khalid’s views on the matter.
“There are varying degrees of differences in opinion” among Selangor PR assemblypersons and MPs, Pua revealed.
The Kidex elevated highway runs north-south from the NKVE’s (North Klang Valley Expressway) Damansara exit to the Bukit Jalil Highway near Kinrara, passing through the heart of Petaling Jaya.
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