It’s EGM for Grand Saga if talks fail

Friday May 30, 2008

By CHARLES FERNANDEZ

THE Selangor state government wants Bandar Mahkota Cheras developer Narajaya Sdn Bhd and highway concessionaire Grand Saga Sdn Bhd to work out a win-win solution for the benefit of the residents.

Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim believes that if the two companies are willing to meet to seek an amendable solution, the Bandar Mahkota Cheras problem can be over even as early as within two weeks.

If the talks failed, the state government, which holds a substantial stake in Grand Saga, plans to call for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of the company to discuss the problem.

Khalid visited the scene of the dispute at 1.15pm yesterday, stood on a stone barricade and addressed the crowd.

He told the residents who had gathered there in the hundreds that the two-and-half-year-old saga could be solved within two weeks if the contending firms agreed on an acceptable mutual solution.

“As a stakeholder in Grand Saga, the state government wants to exercise its right to call an EGM if the meeting does not take place between the highway concessionaire and Narajaya to discuss the issue,” he said.

“I hope this would not be necessary if both Narajaya and Grand Saga can settle the problem between them,” Khalid said to applause from the crowd.

He said Grand Saga should not deprive the people from using the road until a solution had been worked out.

“The state government is not pointing fingers at Grand Saga for putting up the barricades. All it is asking for is for the company to cooperate with it in this matter, which otherwise is not helping both parties,” he said.

Khalid said it was not good for Grand Saga and the residents to be involved in constant confrontation over the closing of the access road.

Khalid said that when he met with Narajaya officials, he was told that the access road to the highway was part of the township’s development plan.

Grand Saga has, however, objected to the access road, saying that should the road be allowed, its revenue would be reduced as motorists would be able to bypass the toll.

“This is a business argument but for the sake of the residents, this matter should be resolved immediately. We do not want more people getting hurt if the matter is prolonged,” Khalid said.

State Local Government and Research Committee chairman Ronnie Liu, meanwhile, pointed out that Grand Saga did not have the right to block the access road as the underpass was an old road and was there even before the highway was built.

“The residents are only using a road that was already there. Grand Saga only has jurisdiction over the roads they build,” Liu said.

“If Grand Saga did not have the approval of the Malaysian Highway Authority (MHA) to put up the barricades, blocking the access road is illegal,” he said.

On Wednesday, the residents tore down a barricade built by Grand Saga that prevented access into the housing area of some 40,000 residents.

Some of the large boulders removed were left in the middle of the road leading to Bandar Mahkota Cheras and this has created a massive traffic jam at the underpass of the Cheras-Kajang highway between the Bandar Mahkota Cheras access road and Bandar Tun Hussein Onn access road.

On Tuesday, tensions ran high when hundreds of residents gathered to remove the barricade, which was rebuilt a day earlier to prevent access into the area.

Grand Saga had reconstructed the barricade after the residents took it down a few weeks ago.