The traffic light at Persiaran Tropicana exit is activated and all traffic from Ara are now directed to use this new exit. Unless you are going to Tropicana Golf & Country Club, you need to wait for the lights at the junction before turning left.

If you are heading towards BU 10 or 11, there is a U turn in front of Wisma Lien Hoe but many users are not able to resist a short-cut making an illegal turn at the Tropicana junction. Use it at your own risk though as you may get a surprise after the tunnel.

This opening brings smiles to users returning home from the direction of Kota Damansara. They no longer need to make a detour at the U turn near the nursery saving them easily ten minutes or more. It also helps to reduce the long queue at that U turn.

Nearer to our home stretch, work is progressing well and the road is still passable. Some new barricades are being relocated which may be an indication that they may close the road anytime.

Well…do enjoy the ride until it is closed.

Hooray! Heavy machinery are back on site and workers are busy working. We are not sure if they will close the road totally or allow us to use one side of the road while they work on the other side. The sign board is loud and clear though: it’s no entry and use it at your own risk!

School holidays starts Monday so this is a small consolation should they decide to close the road totally. But the thought of going back to the old route via the FAS tunnel is …. sigh….

Well, as they say, no pain no gain. Let’s hope they will do a good job and get it done quickly.

And no more surprises please!

Traffic lights are now installed at the Persiaran junction. Once testing is complete, it should be operational soon.

The current impasse is ending. We were told MBPJ has written to the developer to resume work. The developer has responded they will only do so if their conditions are met. MBPJ has given them the green light to proceed.

It will take a few more weeks to complete this stretch: completing the pavements, tarring and turning on the street lights. It is likely the link will be open by end September.

That’s on the assumption that the recalcitrants don’t throw any more tantrums.

Residents have removed the barriers to use the closed road. — Picture by Effendy Rashid

PETALING JAYA: Damansara Idaman Owners Residents Association (RA), which had filed an injunction against TA Properties Sdn Bhd in April to stop the construction of a link road between Ara Damansara and Tropicana, want a traffic impact study to be conducted.

RA president Wan Anwar Wan Mohd Noor, 51 said they had been waiting for the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) to carry out the study on the traffic coming from Persiaran Tropicana heading towards Damansara Ara.

“We asked the city council for a traffic impact assessment to be carried out before any work commences on the road in Jalan PJU 1a/1. We have waited for six months and there has been no reply from MBPJ. We couldn’t get the cooperation of the local authority and that was why we applied for an injunction,” he said.
Wan Anwar said the RA was prepared to sit down and resolve the issue with all parties involved and they were willing to withdraw the injunction if the study showed that traffic in the area would not be affected by the construction of the link road.

The uncompleted link road in Jalan PJU 1a/1 is located in front of Damansara Idaman and Idaman Villas. Work on the road started in April and was expected to have been completed in July.

Wan Anwar said the residents were not against the construction of the road, but they would like the local authority to provide a detailed traffic study on the area.
“What we want to know is what the traffic condition would be like when the link opens.

“If the traffic study shows that there will not be massive traffic congestion in Jalan PJU 1a/1 and that Persiaran Tropicana can handle the traffic flow, then we are willing to withdraw the injunction. But, if the study suggests otherwise, we would have to look at other options,” he said.

Meanwhile, a representative from the developer’s office said that residents who had been using the uncompleted road were trespassing on private property.
“The road is not open to the public yet and there are safety issues involved. The reason we put up the barriers is to ensure the residents’ safety. This is our worksite and if anything happens to the residents, who is to blame?” he said.

When the house owners in Tropicana, Damansara Idaman, Damansara Lagenda and Ara Damansara moved in, there was a proposal to link the two areas.

In 2004, the Tropicana Residents’ Association protested against the linking of the two areas because the Persiaran Tropicana tunnel had only one lane each for traffic coming in and out of the area.

The Tropicana residents then filed an injunction to keep the link closed until MBPJ widened the tunnel and improved traffic flow.

After the Jalan Tanjung issue last year, Selangor Menteri Besar had asked for the Damansara-Tropicana link to be opened.

It was reported last Saturday that residents of Ara Damansara tired of waiting for the link road to be completed had taken matters into their own hands and removed concrete barriers to enable their cars to pass through. They had also patched up a metre-wide trench in the road.

The road was blocked again on Tuesday by the developer with boulders and a big pile of gravel, but the determined residents flattened the gravel to enable their cars to pass through. – By Noel Achariam

1) There is no tension that Ara Damansara residents want to create, the residents are just organizing a gotong royong to ensure the road is safe for public.

2) Tropicana RA is giving their support to us, we have good neighborliness relationship and we are on the same boat in making sure proper road access should be given to both sides of the residents. It is TA properties that blocked the road and take matter in their own hands.

3) MBPJ is giving their support and doing their very best to help us.

There is nothing wrong with Pakatan administration, it is the previous government who had approved all these developments and caused so much trouble. Please stop politicizing the issue, pull your sleeves up and join the penduduk in their gotong royong.

P/S: By the way, If you can count the numbers even from the picture, there is definitely more than 50 people participated.

August is really a very exciting month here in Ara. We had our very first social gathering last Saturday August 14th and 3 days later, we had Santa TA dropping by giving us a very generous sack of precious stones.

Just about when the excitement has died down, we received a letter from the post informing us that over three thousand people plan to setup their new homes here.

Don’t you feel proud that our land here is well sought after?

What shall we do now? Shall we welcome them with open arms?

Need to conduct traffic study proposal – July 2008

Traffic study proposal: Medium-term proposals•Construction of missing link along Jalan PJU1A/1 to connect Ara Damansara and Tropicana – Feb 2009

New Tropicana tunnel opens to traffic – Aug 2009

Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim:  A second measure is to build a road to link Jalan PJU1A/1 in Ara Damansara to Persiaran Tropicana. – Nov 2009

Mixed reaction to decision on road decision: Nov 2009

Mayor wants link to open by next month “How do you expect the residents to wait for four months for the road to be opened?” (It’s been 8 months and still counting) – Dec 2009

Taman Megah Mas tunnel converted to one way: Jan 2010

Work finally starts – April 2010

Tunnel conversion caused nightmare for Kelana Idaman: Jul 2010

An end in sight – July 2010

Enough is Enough! – Aug 2010

‘Gifts’ from neighbors – Aug 2010

Meeting the head of engineering of MBPJ – Aug 2010

The exit at Persiaran Tropicana is close to 90% complete. The road is tarred and they need to complete the pavement works. This exit is unlikely to be opened until a set of traffic lights is installed.

At our home stretch, work has come to a halt for several weeks now. The only comfort is the boom gate has been left unlocked and many of us have started to use this short-cut. The ride is bumpy and dusty but it’s worth it.

If you are headed to Tropicana Golf & Country Club, Damansara Indah, Kota Damansara, Bandar Utama or Taman Tun, this short-cut offers you travel time savings of 20mins or more. As I work in Bandar Utama, my journey home after work now takes 15mins. If I take the normal route via FAS tunnel, it takes me 30mins to an hour depending on traffic conditions.

The big question now is when will they tar the road? Let’s hope it’s soon.

If you are staying in the old phase of Ara Damansara, check the pole behind your house and look for a thick yellow cable. Each pole point is only able to cater 4 residents, so make sure you get it quick! The telekom guys will actually pull a black fiber cable from that pole to the back of your house.

Sometimes the pole may be far from your house, it is better to inform them to make a relay to the pole that is near to your house, they normally won’t do it because it is extra work but we should insist or else the cables in the sky will look really messy.

From the pole to your house, you can decide where the cable will come in.  Before you decide, you must understand that there will be 4 devices in your house for the unifi service:

1) A black device that connects to the white fiber optic cable.
2) A D-link wireless router (White/orange). The wan port connects to the black device.
3) A silver color set top box that have 2 cables, a HDMI cable to your TV and a red cable go to the D-link Wireless router.
4) A cordless phone connects to the black device.

left to right: black box on the left, wireless dlink and set top box

It is easy if your TV is near to place where the fiber comes into your house. Else, you need a very long network cable to connect your set top box with the wireless device. Alternatively, they also have a wireless solution that cost additional money.

There shouldn’t be any major hacking but if you need, you will have to pay extra to the TM contractor. My suggestion is keep it visible because if the fiber cable breaks, you need to change the whole cable.

I subscribed the Unifi VP5 package and able to download up to 500KBps. I’m giving 2 thumbs up for TM Unifi service and highly recommend this to everyone.