No walking away from walkway issue

KUALA LUMPUR: Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin has another thing coming his way if he thought that he had shut up Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar with his response to her criticism of the Kuala Lumpur pedestrian walkway project.

He said last Friday that she was wrong in supposing that R10 million was too expensive for a 142-metre walkway at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC), adding that her calculations were “unprofessional” because she had not taken into account conveniences like air-conditioning, escalators, elevators, CCTV cameras and facilities for the disabled.

In her latest statement on the issue, Nurul Izzah repeated the questions the minister left unanswered, asking him to give a detailed breakdown of the construction cost and the costs of maintaining and operating the walkway.

She also quoted a news report about KLCC Holdings’ handover of the walkway to Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and fired off questions about accountability.

“This indicates very clearly that a build and transfer mechanism is in place with quiet approval, devoid of public oversight and accountability,” she said. “Ultimately, public monies will be used to
maintain this facility.

“Can KL residents expect another bombshell figure? Will DBKL be charging access toll later to pay for the expected ludicrously high costs or, in the spirit of NEM, will it be privatised?” (NEM is Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s New Economic Model.)

Nurul Izzah, who is PKR vice-president, has been blogging about the walkway project since it was announced two years ago. In one of her postings at www.nurulizzah.com, she complained about the poor maintenance of the 500-metre covered walkway between the Dang Wangi LRT station and the Bukit Nanas monorail station as well as the multimillion ringgit roof covering the space between the two LRT stations at Masjid Jamek.

A FMT reporter visited both locations and found that the escalators there were not working. Neither are the train stations friendly to the disabled.

Nurul Izzah cast doubt on DBKL’s ability to maintain the new pedestrian walkway and others in the pipeline