KUALA LUMPUR (May 22, 2012): The government and
Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) aim to more than quadruple the number of
daily commuters using public transport in Kuala Lumpur, to two million
by 2017, from about 480,000 in 2010.
Federal Territories and Urban Well-being Minister Datuk Raja Nong
Chik Raja Zainal Abidin said this would entail expanding current rail
lines with additional coaches, adding bus lanes and instituting 'park
and ride' facilities at rail stations.
"The government also has plans to improve existing bus lanes by
installing barriers to separate them from the part of the road used by
automobiles," he said when opening the Second National Conference on
Greater Kuala Lumpur/Klang Valley themed 'Towards A World Class
Sustainable City' here today.
In addition, he said the federal government was undergoing a detailed
study for a high-speed rail link between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
He shared the sentiments of Rio de Janeiro's mayor Eduardo Paes who
had said that cities of the future had to be environment-friendly.
"This is why, one of our Greater KL/Klang Valley initiative is to
increase shaded areas in the city by planting more trees and introducing
more open parks by collaborating with the private sector," said Raja
Nong Chik, adding that Kuala Lumpur should not merely be about
skyscrapers.
The minister said that holistic city planning often suffered from a sector-by-sector approach across competing jurisdictions.
"Across the major categories, we must look beyond air quality and
carbon emissions, going all the way through energy consumption, land use
and buildings, transport, waste, water sanitation and environmental
governance to ensure that Kuala Lumpur is on the right path to a greener
future," he said.
He further stressed that policymakers must not fail to see the city as a single entity.
At a press conference later, Raja Nong Chik urged the Selangor
Goverment to give attention to water-related projects in the state.
Often, the approval of development projects were postponed because of
water problems, thus affecting the Greater KL Plan, he noted. – Bernama
