Traffic rules ‘leeway’ to restore Brickfields vote for BN

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 — The Federal Territories Ministry has promised to ease the clampdown on drivers parking illegally in Brickfields in a bid to appease angry businessmen suffering a drastic drop in business in the suburb.Many Brickfields businessmen — most of them Indians — have threatened to withdraw their traditional support to the Barisan Nasional (BN) amid a business decline of up to 80 per cent caused by the new one-way traffic system brought by the Little India project.Restaurants, grocery stores and textile shops along Jalan Tun Sambanthan have complained of customers being put off by authorities who issue summonses to errant drivers every day.

“We will loosen (enforcement), we will give leeway,” Federal Territories and Urban Well-being Minister Datuk Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin told reporters last night.“We will not enforce summonses unless it is over the limit,” he added, although he did not elaborate what exactly the limit was.The Najib administration’s showcase Little India project, which is being rushed in time for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s official visit in November to Malaysia, is meant as a symbolic gesture of BN’s concern for Indian voters.

But the manner in which the project is being carried out is now breeding resentment.Many businessmen have slammed the government for pushing through the project without providing ample parking space for people thronging the Indian enclave daily for food, flower garlands, salwar kameez and saris, among others.“It will take one to two years before parking is finalised,” said Raja Nong Chik, adding that businessmen would just have to bear with the situation till then.Jalan Tun Sambanthan 4, Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad and parts of Jalan Tun Sambanthan as well as Jalan Thambipillay have been converted into one-way streets. Another road, Jalan Rozario, has had its road direction reversed but remains a two-way road.

The temporary one-way traffic system will be in place until October 29 to facilitate work on the RM110 million Package 3 of the traffic upgrading system for Brickfields, Bangsar and Kuala Lumpur.Raja Nong Chik also said businessmen had earlier informed him about their business decline, which he said was “expected”.“But when the changes are done, they will enjoy it. In the end, they will profit,” he said, pointing out that commuters, who had earlier complained about the jam in Jalan Travers, now welcomed the new Jalan Bangsar/JalanTravers flyover that was launched early this month.

“BN’s intention is for the good of businessmen,” he said, adding that it would take about a year for the full changes in Brickfields to take place.Changing Jalan Tun Sambanthan into a one-way street is part of the RM35 million Little India project that is set to transform Brickfields into an Indian cultural enclave by November, making Kuala Lumpur and the Tamil Nadu capital city of Chennai “twin cities”.Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Deputy Minister Datuk M. Saravanan has announced that the project is expected to be completed by the end of October before the official launch by Manmohan Singh on November 9.

The Little India project includes fruit and information kiosks at Jalan Thamby Abdullah, a three-storey Indian bazaar at the end of Jalan Tun Sambanthan, a multi-storey car park near the Kuala Lumpur City Hall sports complex, a fountain at the junction of Jalan Travers and Jalan Tun Sambanthan, decorative columns at the five-foot-way of restaurants next to the Sri Kota supermarket, and Indian-style street lighting decorating the entire stretch of Jalan Tun Sambanthan.

Source : http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/traffic-rules-leeway-to-restore-brickfields-vote-for-bn/