I saw them once near the turn off to the Bungalows. It was a hot afternoon. I was heading to Citta Mall and I was on the right lane to make that famous illegal turn. When I spotted them, it was just too late for me to change course.

My first thought. Maybe their motor-cycle had broken down. They needed help for sure. Maybe they needed a ride. I pitied them and I wished I had stopped.

Shortly after, a taxi passed. I felt better. Perhaps the taxi would take them to where they wanted to go.

Like many things in life, this is a snapshot. I have totally forgotten this episode until a week later.

My wife told me she saw a family of four by the road side. It wasn’t her first time. She has seen them before in other areas. But this time, out of kindness and also out of curiosity, she stopped.

Rolling down the window, she was told her child was sick: asthmatic and she needed to take her to a clinic. She asked for money. My wife pitied them but on second thought, she sensed something fishy. They were seen around the neighbourhood a little too often. She decided to drive away.

Did she do the right thing?

There are actually two opposing thoughts.

One camp says “Give!” Does it matter if you are being conned? You have done your part to help. What follows is no longer your business.

The opposite camp says “Don’t”. Why are you so gullible?

Which camp are you on?

We have no problems with the public using public roads in this neighbourhood. Unlike others who put up barricades or installing multiple road humps at very short intervals (most likely to frustrate), we won’t do that not even an intention.

We are rate payers and we simply can’t stop other rate payers from using a road that is built by the local authorities for the public. Anyway, a public road is what it is … for public use.

But we have a problem when a party comes to town and leaves behind a big mess.

That’s what happened last weekend.

Some organizers decided to organize a midnight run around 3 am. Nothing wrong with that. At that hour, many of us would be in slumber land and don’t even know or care a bunch of guys and gals out there sweating out.

They have chosen a route which passes through our neighbourhood. Nothing wrong with that. It’s a public road so they are free to use it anytime, day or night.

They decided to put up a tent by the road side serving as a water station. Again, nothing wrong with that. We understand runners need to replenish their water loss.

By 7 am last Sunday, the run was over. As expected, the place near the water hole and surrounding areas were littered by hundreds of paper cups. Rubbish bins were available but knowing how runners run, asking them to aim for the bins is like hitting a hole in one.

By mid-morning, the signage, the tent, the tables, the tub and the rubbish bins were removed. Good, this is as expected. However, littering the road were hundreds of paper cups. And a few empty bottles too. By mid afternoon, these cups were flattened, crushed by the day’s traffic. They were also swept to the road side from the whipping of the wind.

We were hoping the organizers would send a team to clean up.

We waited… 24 hours… 48 hours…

At press time, 63 hours have come and gone. The paper cups remained.

Disappointed. Very disappointed!

Is this what a responsible organizer do? Littering the place?

In this era of youtube, facebook, twitters and spams, there is so much information that sometimes, it’s quite difficult to tell facts from fiction.

A good example is a photo from the recent Bersih 3.0 event showing ground zero and surrounding areas packed with protesters. At first glance, it’s amazing and most will be convinced especially when emotions were running high then. But for the cool headed, logic quickly sinks in. This can’t be real.

I received this photo about a year ago along with a narrative where they may be installed. Although I seldom go outstation, this is good information for me then. There is nothing to lose especially if it can potentially save you a few hundred bucks. During one of the rare occasions on the highway, I will slow down just to be sure I am not caught. However, it has been a disappointment so far as no matter how hard I look, there is no even a single cable that give it away.

But in the news recently, it was reported that two companies have been engaged to install speed cameras at designated spots along our highways.

As they say, there is no smoke without fire. So it looks like someone was experimenting with the cooking after all.

If you listen to FM in the mornings, I am sure it has caught your attention. Bravo to the marketing team that put this together! This is what I call a well planned marketing campaign.

If you are still in the dark, I am referring to the latest shopping mall in the vicinity of our neighbourhood: Paradigm Mall.

If you are driving along LDP, you should be able to see the area under construction. It is just opposite Kelana Jaya Mall.

The developer has obviously given lots of thoughts during planning and recognizing there are thousands of residents living in Kelana Jaya and surrounding SSx areas which are all potential customers, they have built a tunnel under LDP allowing this group of customers easy access to the Mall.

If you have nothing to do this weekend and plan to pay a visit, don’t bother. The soft opening is not till 23rd May. But you can always google it and you will be rewarded with a very impressive artist impression of this mall. However, don’t be fooled because this is phase 1 and the rest of the building complex is still under construction.

For residents here, how do we go there? Well, you won’t be able to use the FAS tunnel because you would have just missed the Mall by a few hundred metres. Actually, you can if you do not mind parking your car at the light industrial area and walk a short distance.

The proper way though is to use Jalan Lapangan Terbang Subang and turn left near Glomac towards MAS Complex and then exit to LDP. It’s a long way and congestions at Jalan Lapangan Terbang Subang and at LDP will make your journey a lot longer than you expect.

So the sneaky short-cut via FAS tunnel isn’t a bad idea after all.

Source: Star Apr 23
Photo: Courtesy of FB page on NoTIC

SOME residents from Tropicana Indah, Sunway Damansara and surrounding areas in Petaling Jaya are worried over a proposed construction of an international school in Persiaran Damansara Indah.

They feel that the proposed project, which is adjacent to the traffic light junction bordering Tropicana Indah and Casa Tropicana, would make traffic in the area worse if it was approved as proposed, it.

Tropicana Indah resident Lim Kok Boon said traffic congestion in the area was bad on week days and weekends, and having a school at that site would add to the problem.

Based on an expert assessment on built-up area, plot ratio and traffic congestion in the area, Lim explained that the proposed school’s location opposite a traffic junction was highly unsuitable.

“The approval of the school involving a built-up area of 92,903-sq-m on a high plot ratio of 1.4 at a unsuitable location along two busy roads will worsen the traffic nightmare,” he said during a public protest yesterday, which gathered about 150 residents.

He added that a general built-up area of international schools were between 18,580-sq m and 32,516 sq m. Plot ratio for international schools are less than 1:1.3 according to the expert assessment.

He also said that a proposed traffic junction with a U-turn on Persiaran Damansara Indah was pointless as traffic on both sides of the road were also always on a stand still.

Riana Green Condominium resident Ng Wey Han said there was hardly any public transportation in the area currently and therefore most residents drove in the area.

“Even taxis prefer not come here due to the jam, especially during peak hours at the SJK (C) Damansara. So I really don’t know how we can cope with an international school in this area?, he asked.

The proposed school plan came to the residents’ attention in March 2011. Ever since, there has been two public hearings on the issue. However, residents are still left hanging on the project status and their objections.

Meanwhile, Avenue 23 residents association chairman K.W Mak’s main concern was over the fact that the proposed project failed to comply with a few legal and technical requirements set by the state government.

“A lot of these documents are not filed in the application by the developer.

“The developer did not provide these documents to the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) and we don’t know how the council could even process this application without the documents,” he said.

He pointed out that the Selangor guidelines and standards manual for planning stated the minimum area on which a school complex for primary and secondary year students was 6.1ha and the minimum land area to construct a pre-university school complex was between 32ha and 40ha. The proposed development site is merely 2.5ha.

Mak added that there was no clearly marked out provisions for open spaces in the proposal report as per the guidelines and standards for Recreational and Open Space Planning that required 10% of a land area of any commercial development to be reserved for open space.

Road works to widen Jalan Tanjung to three lanes is almost complete. The road is tarred except for a small section midway and at the exit. According to the signage, this project was supposed to take only 6 months and ready by August 2011. Yep! more than 6 months ago!

Quite typical of many local municipal projects, after long delays, a sign board is erected and then nothing happens. Months later, work starts and later stopped. There could be a thousand and one excuses. In this case, they blamed it on some major pipe re-alignment and acquiring of a small piece of land belonging to a private developer.

The opening of this road to two-ways will help relieve the bottleneck at the Tropicana tunnel. For those of us returning home via Bandar Utama, it will offer us another route home.

We have about a year to enjoy this before more traffic joins the party.

Tropicana Grande, a project comprising of four blocks of luxury Condo’s of 38 and 39 storey high with a total of 328 units are expected completion some time next year. Tropicana Grande is just next door to Casa Tropicana along Persiaran Tropicana.

Recommendations #17 from MBPJ traffic study calls for an elevated crossing over NKVE joining Persiaran Tropicana with Jalan Bukit Mayang Mas. The last update was this project is pending availability of Infrastructure Service Fund. Developers have to contribute to this fund as a condition of their development approval. We have to see if and when this will materialize. In the mean time, jams will remain the order of the day.

Perhaps a gantry can be installed to restrict access of that turn to cars only.

The residents here and those of the surrounding neighbourhoods have been asking for a set of traffic lights at this junction for many years. This is a busy junction and it is popular because it allows access to LDP. In fact, pass-through traffic used to be quite significant as motorists coming from the direction of Jalan Lapangan Terbang Subang were using it as a short-cut to LDP.

This junction is also notorious. At one time, shortly after the MegahMas tunnel was converted to one way, traffic was extremely heavy here. The Tropicana Link was still in dispute then and returning traffic were diverted to this single access. Traffic can be seen backing up as far back at the FAS tunnel. The residents at Kelana Idaman were obviously not happy as MBPJ had simply shifted the problem of traffic congestion from MegahMas to here.

In fact, MBPJ had earlier commissioned a traffic study and one of the recommendations was to have a signalized junction here. Why does it take donkey years to make it happen is anyone’s guess. One of the excuses given was there were no bidders for a tender exercise. We found that hard to believe.

The opening of the Tropicana Link did offer some relief. The laws of equilibrium has diverted most of the pass-through away but in return, there is new traffic coming from the direction of Citta Mall. So for those who have to cross this junction daily, it’s still nerve raking. This will disappear soon.

MBPJ has finally found a contractor for this job. The installation works are almost complete and testing are currently in progress.

It may take a few more days before they turn it on. It has been a very long wait but as they say “It’s better late than never”.

We are so glad it’s finally here!

WWF-Malaysia and Sunway Shopping Malls would like to invite everyone to participate in the Earth Hour 2012 event at the main entrance of Sunway Pyramid on Saturday 31st March 2012 from 8:30pm to 9:30pm. Members of the public are invited to join the “Dance in the Dark” for Earth Hour; please learn the dance steps here.

From its inception as a single-city initiative in 2007, Earth Hour has grown into a global movement where hundreds of millions of people from every continent join together to acknowledge the importance of mitigating climate change.

We hope that you can lend your support by joining us at the Earth Hour event – along with celebrities Amanda Imani, Amber Chia, Chermaine Poo, Joey G, Rina Omar, Soo Wincci, Xandria Ooi and Yuri Wong – where we will stand together with the world in a global celebration of the one thing that unites us all: our living planet.

Celebrity emcee Jeremy Teo of Red FM will energise the event!

Programme
At main entrance, Sunway Pyramid
8.00 pm Welcome by emcee
8.05 pm Speech by Sunway Shopping Malls CEO
8.10 pm Speech by WWF-Malaysia Executive Director/CEO
8.25 pm Countdown
8:35pm SnL singers

8:50 pm Dance in the Dark for Earth Hour (Music by Air Symphony, public invited to join)
9:05 pm Media guided up the ramp to take photos of the “60” formation
9:15pm “60” formation by students, public invited to join / Media guided back to main entrance
9:25pm Spokespersons invited back on to stage
9:29pm Countdown to lights on
9.30 pm Lights on

Hope to see you there!

Source: theStar Mar 23

Frustrated by the delay in reviving the Platinum Damansara Condominium project, about 30 buyers held a protest in Ara Damansara last Tuesday to voice their grievances.

The project, consisting of four blocks of service apartments and a commercial building, stalled in 2007 and the buyers are having a tough time finding interested parties to revive it.

It was once promoted as a high-end service apartment in Damansara but today it is in ruins with squatters taking over the development, posing health and security risks for the surrounding township.

Abandoned Platinum Damansara Condominium Purchasers Association committee member Noel Vong said there were many court cases that delayed the project even further.

“However, last year we managed to get an interested party to revive the project.

“We hired a consultant and scheme manager to draw up a scheme of arrangement with the developer,” he said.

The move was supported by 410 buyers out of 422 who attended a meeting on June 14 last year.

There are a total of 680 buyers.

Vong said the scheme had the support of the bank which provided the finance as well.

“On June 17 last year, the Shah Alam High Court approved the scheme but almost immediately after the decision, several parties filed claims to set aside the scheme.

“After several court hearings a decision was made by the High Court on Nov 30 to set aside the scheme and we were back to square one,” added Vong.

The buyers in turn filed an appeal and the case will be heard on April 5.

A buyer, Paul Adaikalam, said many purchasers had been declared bankrupt as they were are unable to pay the bank loans.

“Each buyer pays an average of RM50 per day in interest and there are so many stories of civil servants losing their jobs, businessmen being blacklisted and pensioners who invested now left without a home,” he added.

Vong said the revival cost had also increased, forcing buyers to fork out an extra 25% for work to be completed.

“It was stated that the project was 80% complete when it stalled but today due to vandalism, the building looks only 30% complete,” he added.