KUALA LUMPUR, April 27 – Senator A. Kohilan Pillay, who is vying for the Puchong parliamentary seat, will discuss with Maju Expressway Sdn Bhd — the concessionaire for MEX highway, the need to open an exit at Seri Serdang to lessen the almost gridlock traffic jams and shorten travel time to Puchong.
Kohilan, 46, who is foreign deputy minister, said if elected to the seat at the upcoming General Election on May 5, this would be among his priorities in improving basic facilities to resolve problems such as traffic congestion in Puchong.
“I will make it a high priority to discuss with Maju Expressway to look into the proposal to have an exit at Seri Serdang, a move that can relieve traffic congestion at several other entry and exit points to Puchong, such as from Kesas highway,” he told Bernama in an interview today.
He said, this was among plans to beef up basic amenities in the area, besides setting up 1Malaysia clinics, increasing the number of Chinese and Tamil schools, improving transportation linkages, and attracting international investors.
“Despite the brisk commercial activity, mainly involving small and medium enterprises, we need more international investors to establish their operations here and create job opportunities for the local populace,” he said.
Discussions would also be held with the relevant agencies and ministries to tackle street crime, a problem which he admitted was at a critical stage due to inadequate police personnel.
“It is important to curb street crime,” said Kohilan.
“There must be significant increase in mobile police units patrolling the area, particularly business enterprises, since Puchong is a high density area with a population, currently at between 600,000 and 700,000.
“Furthermore, there are more than 100 housing estates in the area with the major ones being Bandar Puteri, Puchong Perdana, Kinrara and Puchong Jaya, as well as several squatter areas,” he said.
He assured residents he would talk to the police to increase enforcement and policing in the area due to the rising population because of people migrating to Puchong, with new housing estates mushrooming in the area.
The Selangor Gerakan chief and Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate, who is in a straight fight against incumbent Gobind Singh Deo from DAP, is confident of winning the seat, owing to what he described as a swing back to BN, particularly from Indian voters.
The constituency has 107,135 voters, comprising 17 per cent Indians, Chinese (44 per cent) and Malays (39 per cent). Kohilan said the Puchong parliamentary seat and the two state seats of Seri Serdang and Kinrara would be a 1Malaysia representation comprising Umno’s Mohamad Yusof Mohamed Yassin and MCA’s Wong Hock Aun in Kinrara — both new faces.
He said his stint in two ministries — foreign and before that as deputy minister in the plantation, industries and commodities ministry, had given valuable platform for resolving people’s problems and other critical issues Kohilan was a saviour to more than 10,000 stranded Malaysian students in Egypt when he persevered to evacuate them back home, following political unrest in that country early last year.
Together with other relevant agencies and ministries, the deputy foreign minister helped to bring home Malaysian students, government-sponsored or otherwise. Landing rights were secured for a Royal Malaysian Air Force Charlie aircraft to land in Cairo and transport the students to neighbouring countries while the BN government forked out millions of ringgit to bring the students back home safely.
“And, many of the students are from Puchong,” noted Kohilan. As for requests for more Chinese schools, he said SJK(C) Kheng Chee at Pusat Bandar Puchong would open in June, while work on another had already started in Puchong and be ready in a year’s time while the government looked into setting up an additional Tamil school in Puchong.
Flood was another problem which residents faced, Kohilan said, citing the flash flood at Serdang Jaya on Wednesday. He visited the area about 10.30 that night to help the affected residents.
He noted that the flood occurred as the drainage works were not fully completed while measures to check flood at the IOI Mall, caused by a lack of drainage, were also being looked into.
As for feedback from residents towards his candidacy, he said they were happy with his presence, adding residents affected by the floods in Serdang Jaya were grateful to him for having come so quickly to area after the incident.
For the 170 families at the Kampung Pasir apartment affected by landslide, about two weeks ago, he said quick action was taken to house them at the Dewan Belia until the problem was rectified. They were also given money for expenses.
Turning to affordable housing, Kohilan said, if BN wrested back Selangor, the state government would be able to undertake such housing projects to cater for the low-income group as it could keep house prices low since it owned the land.
Besides this and unknown to many, Kohilan said that in the foreign ministry, he had assisted about 2,500 Malaysians who were detained overseas, mainly in Thailand and Singapore, by providing counsellor service, informing their families of their predicament, getting financial assistance for them through non-governmental organisations and even helping to gain pardon for some of them.
He discounted claims that he was new to Puchong and unfamiliar with the area and its problems. As Selangor Gerakan chief, he has been attending functions and meeting people and was aware of their problems.
BERNAMA
