Bukit Bintang traders want MRT operator to revert to old plan
Last updated on 27 September 2011 - 03:09pm
KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 26, 2011): Several traders in Bukit Bintang are urging the government to revert to the original proposed plan to build two Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) stations at both ends of Jalan Bukit Bintang.
The original plan proposed that the two MRT stations be built on existing vacant plots, known as BB West and BB East. However the new MRT plan has only one station, which is BB Central.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz today said he sympathised with the plight of the traders as he understood their concerns.
“They are not opposing the MRT project. They are just hoping that the government will revert to the old plan and they have given reasonable explanations on why. I find their request to be fair.
“I understand their concerns because I am told that 68 businesses will be affected and this will cause a loss of jobs,” he said after a meeting with the chairman of the Bukit Bintang Protem Action Committee Datuk Chong Peng Wah together with the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall secretary-general Stanley Yong and DAP Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun, who handed a memo on the matter.
Nazri added that after public consultation, the new plan for the MRT proposed the BB Central station, which is opposite BB Plaza and Lot 10 to serve the area.
“Of course it will create problems because there is already a monorail station there. Also, if construction of the station takes three to five years, businesses (in that area) will be affected,” he said adding that BB Central is a prime, and internationally renown shopping district."
“You must remember Malaysia is not the only heaven on earth… Other countries such as Singapore and Jakarta are competing for the same tourists so we must look at this," Nazri said.
“Also, it will definitely cause (traffic) congestion. These are the few things that can be considered as the negative effects if we proceed to have BB Central but all this can be avoided if we revert to the original plan," he said.
“The MRT is supposed to provide facilities and make the people happy but we are making so many people unhappy,” he added.
Nazri said he will arrange for a meeting with MRT Co's CEO Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid next month to bring the plight of the traders. MRT Co will be the project and asset owner of the Klang Valley MY Rapid Transit (KVMRT) project.
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